Irkoli
by secooper87
Summary: The Doctor. Ace. Jack. An old enemy. And the one statue that brought them all together — the Great Warrior of Irkoli.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: Welcome to the next story!

Not really sure what to say about this one, so just... read it and enjoy!

* * *

><p>"You can't just let her in there!" shouted Councilor Exora. Pointing at the planet beyond their space ship.<p>

Councilor Wendon leaned against the side wall, unconcerned, small smile touching his lips. "She says she can make the Trianxyl Generation Plant work without the constant drain on our resources. I say… let her into the plant."

"She's also the Speaker for the Forgotten," Exora snapped. "The fate of our galaxy is in _her_ hands, and she knows it."

Wendon shrugged.

"The Outer Worlds don't trust her," Exora continued. "If they hear we let her change around the equipment in the Generation Plants, the Empire will fall apart!"

Wendon chuckled.

Then waved a syntho-signal through the main base computer. A group of the top scientists flooded the room, responding to the command.

Bustling to prepare equipment and machinery.

"What makes you think," said Wendon, "we're giving her the chance to change anything?"

* * *

><p>The pound of footsteps and the scream of "Seo!" was the first sign she was in danger.<p>

Seo spun around from her work on the power turbines. To find her friend, Prosemo, racing along the gantry, fast as he could.

"It's a trap!" Prosemo cried. "They're planning to take you down. You have to run!"

Seo felt her whole face grow red with anger. As she stormed towards him, her fists clenched, her eyes blazing. "Let them," she said. Raised up her hand and shook it. "You hear that, troops waiting outside? You kill me, now, and who knows what could happen? It could mean the end of the Empire. The end of everything!"

Prosemo stared at her.

In ever mounting horror.

"What… what's…?" he cried.

Seo glanced back to him. "See? There's nothing to be afraid of," she said. Spun back to the controls. "They wouldn't dare interrupt me, now. I've been too careful. Whatever the Outer Worlds might think, the Empire can't get rid of me _that_ easily."

"Seo!" Prosemo shouted. Running over to her. "Seo!"

Seo hesitated. Glancing back over her shoulder. "What? Prosemo? What's…?"

But that was when the trap swung shut.

And nothing happened.

For a very long time.


	2. Chapter 2

_Th__e Present Day…_

"You shouldn't have been so hard on her," Ace said.

The words had come out of nowhere. They'd stopped at a restaurant off the I-5, to 'regroup' and 'figure out what the hell Elizabeth was up to', before continuing their journey. And they'd been planning and strategizing just fine.

Then… that statement.

Totally randomly.

"I guess not," Dawn muttered. She fiddled with her fork, trying to block out thoughts of anger and hurt and deep overpowering sorrow. "Just got pissed off."

Ace didn't answer.

"Wherever Seo is, now," said Dawn, "I'm sure she's fine. Probably already back to beaming and bouncing and offering people chocolate."

The niece who'd murdered her sister.

Ace grimaced. "She's not, you know," she said. "I know exactly what she did, after leaving here."

"What?!"

"I remember — from when I was traveling with the Doctor." Ace met Dawn's eyes, evenly. "She's in Irkoli. That's where it all ends."

* * *

><p>"Get me another."<p>

The barman complied, sliding another Vesu Cocktail across the bar towards Jack Harkness. He picked up the drink, raising it to the barman.

"Cheers, cutie," said Jack. Downed half the drink in one go. He glanced over his shoulder, at the attractive Rydonquis, her tentacles glowing in the low light. "You too, gorgeous."

The Rydonqui woman fluttered her tentacles, excitedly. "It's very exciting to be at the opening of the Grynxol Wing of the Grand Museum. Isn't it?"

"Anything you say," Jack muttered, turning back to his cocktail. Wondered if he could get a double of this drink. Or… maybe this _was_ the double.

If so… he needed a triple.

"Have you seen the tribal cave paintings, yet?" the Rydonqui woman enthused. "That's my area of study at the University of Yizno. Specializing in those depicting water goddesses on ancient latrines. The most fascinating…!"

Jack tried to look interested.

But he was starting to prefer the barman.

Just his luck to request coordinates for any random open bar, and get stuck at a shindig full of academics trying to prove something to other academics.

"…that's why I'm here," said the enthusiastic Rydonqui. "For the paintings. And the Third Wonder of the Galaxy, of course. But also the paintings." She sidled up to him. "So… what are you here for?"

"Oblivion," Jack replied, looking down at his drink.

Once again, this seemed to unsettle the Rydonqui woman, who was clearly trying to figure out what kind of academic Jack was, and how she could best impress him to advance her own career.

Jack really needed to find better bars.

"And the Third Wonder of the Galaxy, of course?" the Rydonqui woman prompted, hoping that was a safe topic.

Jack took another drink. "Yep. Sure. Third Wonder… of… this galaxy." His head spun, as he struggled to remember where he actually was. "…Nyzona, right?"

"Irkoli."

"Irkoli!" Jack corrected. "Oh, yeah. Third Wonder of Irkoli."

He was sure he'd been to the Irkoli Galaxy, but couldn't for the life of him remember any wonders.

Which was weird. Since there weren't that many life-supporting planets in this galaxy. Anymore.

Legacy of the Empire.

"Yep," Jack said, trying to cover. "Best… whatever-it-is… in the universe!"

Which was about the moment the Rydonqui woman figured out he wasn't an academic. And excused herself, to go chat up someone who might actually advance her career.

Didn't matter.

"To oblivion," Jack toasted himself, finishing the rest of his drink. Called over the bartender for another.

Around him, the assembly went quiet.

As one of the museum curators took the stage.

"Good evening," said the museum curator. "Ferno Lynol, Senior Curator. It's an honor to open the Grynxol Wing — a permanent exhibit commemorating the rule of an evil empire. Yet we still know so little about—"

"You're not the usual sort we get around here," the bartender cut in, in a quiet voice, to Jack. Set his drink down on the table. "Not the history type?"

Jack grabbed the drink. "Been there, done that," he said. "Doctor and Rose. Long time ago. Heard all the Empire horror stories. The Doc said it was exaggeration, of course. He'd been to the Empire itself. Probably toppled the thing."

He stared down into his drink.

As, behind him, the Senior Curator kept droning on in long, boring tones about the many myths and legends that had been built around the Irkoli Empire. Which included legends of how it supposedly dealt with planets it didn't like by chucking them into the nearest black hole. And legends of the Empire killing people using something that sounded a lot like voodoo.

"Yep. The Doctor takes down evil omnipotent empires," said Jack. "And me? I just sit around getting older and older, drinking more and more — until not even an open bar gets me drunk enough to forget."

He took another drink.

As, behind him, the Senior Curator unveiled the Third Wonder of the Galaxy — "A perfectly preserved statue, at least 1.2 million years old!"

The crowd around him broke out into applause.

"1.2 million," Jack repeated. "I'm gonna be that, someday."

It was a depressing thought.

Realizing he still had millions… billions… of years of this.

Running away. Disappointing people. Losing everyone. Causing the deaths of loved-ones.

"Course you are, sir," said the barman.

"Hey, I'm a hundred and fifty, you know," said Jack. "And lookin' good on it." Gave a tired smile. "By some standards, I'm two thousand, one hundred and fifty. But I spent most of that time buried in the ground beneath Cardiff."

"Most of the statue's time was spent buried in the first moon of Ergola," said the barman. "Sounds like you two would get along famously."

Jack laughed. "Bet we would." He turned around, raising his glass to the statue, in a toast. "Well, statue! Here's to…"

His laughter stopped.

His breath choked in his throat.

And the glass slipped out of his hand, shattering against the floor.

"…the oldest example of the Empire Stasis Technology in action," the Senior Curator droned on. "Historians believe the Irkoli Empire built it specifically for her. After the Empire fell, she wound up buried in the Ergolan moon, where she remained, untouched, for a million years — until her unearthing a century ago."

"No…" Jack breathed. "Oh, please, no."

"I give you, ladies and gentlemen, the Third Wonder of the Galaxy… the Great Warrior!" the curator announced, gesturing at the statue.

Except… it wasn't a statue.

It was the frozen body of someone Jack had seen many times before. Her blond hair still raised around her as if blown by a gust of wind, her large brown eyes determined, her right foot forwards, her arm raised above her head, mouth open as if in the middle of a shout, and her entire stance radiating self-confidence and brilliance.

"No," Jack kept saying. Not wanting to admit what he was seeing was true. "No. No. No…"


	3. Chapter 3

_About 1.2 million years ago…_

"…to the Velnor Mud Flats," the Doctor proposed, in his Scottish lilt, umbrella tucked under his arm as he poked buttons on the central console. "Or a trip to the shores of Tevim. Or perhaps—"

"Oh, no!" said Ace, stepping back and crossing her arms. "I know you, Professor. No more master-plans."

The Doctor looked up, a little hurt. "Master plans?"

"That 'holiday' to those ice caves that were really a Cyber-tomb?" Ace prompted. "Or Sherlin 5 — great beaches, you said. Real reason you wanted to go? To stop an interstellar—"

"Ah," the Doctor said. "_Those_ master-plans."

Ace kept up the hard look.

The Doctor stepped away from the controls, hands raised. "All right — you decide!" he proposed. "Where to next?"

Ace's look melted into a grin. She'd been hoping he'd ask her that.

"Here," Ace said, handing him the book she'd been reading for the last several days.

The Doctor took it, examining the cover. "The Irkoli Empire," he mused. His face bent in thought. "The Empire that supposedly threw defiant planets into a black holes, and used voodoo dolls to get rid of anyone who escaped." He tapped the cover, his mind racing. "Interesting…"

Ace knew that look.

Grabbed the book away from him.

"No — this isn't some… mystery!" Ace snapped. "Or an excuse to topple a regime or defeat the evil empire or anything else… Star Wars!"

Ace flipped a few pages in the book.

Then slammed it down on the central console. "We're going to Irkoli to meet _her_."

The Doctor leaned against the console. "The Great Warrior," he read aloud. Skimmed the page. "Speaker for the Forgotten. The woman who nearly took down the Empire single-handed. And the one credited with its ultimate liberation."

Ace nodded, grinning.

The Doctor closed the book again. "An inspiration of yours?"

"Hey, she sticks up for the oppressed," said Ace, "loves trouble, runs into danger to help others — and, most importantly, is keen on the use of heavy explosives." She grinned even wider. "What's there not to like?"

The Doctor gave a small laugh. "Irkoli it is, then."

And set the TARDIS into flight.

* * *

><p>The first thing Ace noticed, when she emerged onto the planet, was the sky.<p>

"The stars!" she cried, pointing at them where they twinkled through the dome over the city. So many, glowing all together, every one a different color and every one in motion. "They light up the sky!"

The Doctor stepped out of the TARDIS, locking the door behind him. "Center of the galaxy, Ace," he explained. "The stars are closer together, here. And, as a result, naturally life-supporting planets are scarce. Most of the planets you'll find around the center of this galaxy are artificial in origin, or have been altered through technology to be able to support life."

Ace pointed at the dome surrounding them. "Like this place, you mean?"

"Like this place," the Doctor confirmed. He swung his umbrella around in a circle, gesturing at the planet around them. "Welcome to the artificial planet Trianxyl — known, in your little book, as Grynxol. One of the Powerhouse Planets." He pointed his umbrella at the TARDIS, where the book still remained. "And the base of operations for your friend."

Ace grinned.

Excited.

"Of course, you haven't seen the most impressive part of the sky, yet," the Doctor said.

Then the sun rose.

Filtered through the dome, which turned darker and polarizing, to weed out the excess light — but still one of the most beautiful sights Ace had ever seen. Not just a round, circular ball; the sun's light was being pulled and tugged towards a dark patch to its right, creating a swirl of light and darkness just beside it.

A sun with a swirling, spiral tail.

"What is it?" Ace gasped.

"A sun orbiting a black hole," the Doctor said. "On top of a dimensional fracture."

Wow.

"Very unusual," the Doctor continued. "Very unstable. The black hole tries to drain off the energy of the sun — but the dimensional fracture tries to give it all back."

The swirling sun in the sky crackled with red energy — and, from the depths of the black hole, a sudden wave of light was spat out, flashing through the vacuum of space.

Ace had to look away, so she didn't go blind.

The Doctor began to stroll towards the city, as the light faded and red energy disappeared. "It's a lot of energy. All in one spot. No coincidence the Empire set up artificial planets nearby, to siphon it off."

Ace stumbled after the Doctor.

"Isn't that dangerous?" Ace said.

The Doctor chuckled. "Unquestionably. But energy translates to political power. And someone who can harvest even a fraction of the energy from a stellar phenomena like this…"

"…could control an entire galaxy," Ace finished.

Must be why the Great Warrior was here.

"But enough stellar sightseeing," the Doctor cut in. "I believe you had someone you wanted to meet." He began to stroll a little faster. "Come along, Ace!"

A wide smile on her face, Ace sprinted after him.

It was only later that she realized she should have, before even leaving the TARDIS, checked the date.

* * *

><p><em>The Present Day…<em>

"Oh, yes, the Third Wonder of the Galaxy," said Parin — a Junior Curator. Surreptitiously eyeing Jack up, over his cocktail. "Used to be the Ninth, back when it was dug up, but the Independent Historians Council's been vaulting it up the list since they discovered…"

"What happened?" Jack cut in. For one of the first times in his life, he didn't even care about flirting with the guy. "How'd she get like that? How… how long has she been…?"

His questions stuck in his throat.

"We don't know, exactly," Parin replied. "I'm sure you've heard the stories, of course. Evil empire. Hero showing up out of nowhere. Hero almost defeats the Empire. Empire feels threatened, invents technology to turn him to stone. Then Empire destroys Grynxol."

"And the hero comes back to life and topples the Empire," Jack muttered. "I know."

Thing was, he'd always assumed the Great Warrior had been the Doctor.

But it was Seo.

Now a statue.

"We never thought the stories were true, of course," said Parin. "Then we found the statue. And after a lot of academic research and geo-dating, it became pretty clear who it had to be."

Jack just nodded.

Not sure what to say.

"Quite remarkable, isn't it?" said Parin, glancing over his shoulder at the statue. "The Great Warrior, who still inspires legends a million years later — was a girl. No older than a teenager, we think."

"Yeah," said Jack. His voice distant. "She is… was… amazing."

"The oldest example of the Empire's stasis technology that we've found," Parin added. "And the best preserved. That's the problem with the Empire's stasis technology — in theory, it should leave the victim alive. But we've uncovered hundreds of other stasis statues, and they're all dead."

Jack had seen other examples on display.

The corpses rotten, the stasis tech long since eroded and decayed.

"We were amazed when we found and dated this one," said Parin. "We think she looks exactly the same as she did a million years ago."

It felt like someone kept punching Jack in the stomach.

Every time he heard about Seo's… death.

"The Empire would have used her as a trophy, we believe," Parin went on. "We don't know exactly why the Empire collapsed, but when it did…"

"Legends say it's because of the Great Warrior," muttered Jack.

Parin shook his head, gesturing at the statue. "This statue's evidence enough to disprove that. If she's still here, and still a statue, she can't exactly have gotten resurrected to destroy the Empire, huh?"

No.

Probably not.

"But it makes a much better story if you claim it's the same person," said Parin. "She inspired countless religions, over the years. Every single one of them with the belief that she somehow overcame the stasis technology, on her own, and 'rose again'. Some religions claimed that if they worshipped her, she'd return, once more — to make this galaxy great, again."

Jack remembered wandering around the Ergolan moon, with Rose.

Laughing at the many religions who worshipped the Great Warrior — whom they'd assumed was the Doctor — and joking about how much he both hate it and be flattered if he ever found out. Unless, Rose said, he already knew.

How much had the Doctor known?

Even back then?

"It's said that the Great Warrior is the origin of the Resurrection Tales," Parin said, not noticing Jack's ever-increasing sadness. "And you can see why. With the heartbeat." He grinned. "Fascinating stuff! Have you read Professor Effrotz's paper on the subject? It's really quite remarkable how—"

Jack nearly jumped out of his skin. "Heartbeat?!"

Parin looked at him. A little surprised. "You… don't know?" He waved a hand back at the statue. "It's why she was promoted from the Ninth Wonder of the Galaxy to the Third. All the Empire's other stasis victims are long-since dead. But… for some reason… the Great Warrior's still alive. Every fifty years or so, there's a heartbeat."

A sudden surge of hope swelled in Jack.

He grabbed Parin by the shoulders. "How does the technology work?" he demanded. "How did it send her into stasis in the first place? What's keeping her there?"

Parin looked a little taken aback. "I… I don't…"

Jack shook him. "You said you'd uncovered hundreds of these!" he shouted. "So what was used to put them into stasis? What keeps them there? How do we wake her up?!"

Obviously, something about Jack's words didn't make sense to Parin. Like he couldn't figure out why anyone would _want_ to bring the statue back to life.

Then his eyes lit up, as he seemed to work it out.

And leaned in, closer.

"Is this you asking me to go somewhere in private and talk about the statue?" Parin whispered, in his best imitation of a sexy voice. It sounded cheap and contrived, and failed on every level.

"You don't know anything about the stasis field technology," Jack guessed, with a sigh.  
>"Well… no," Parin admitted. "But I know a lot of other things we can do in private…"<p>

No.

Of course Parin and the others wouldn't know anything. It was a million years since the days of the Irkoli Empire. The only technology that wasn't fossilized was the stasis technology, and even that had deteriorated beyond the point where they could decipher it.

"Like Professor Effrotz says in his paper," said Parin, continuing his clumsy seduction, "in every Resurrection Tale, the resurrection only ever happens after a connection is made. And you and I… connect."

Connection…?

A smile danced across Jack's lips.

"You're right," Jack decided, sidling up to the curator. "This Professor Effrotz's paper sounds like something we should talk over in more detail. In private." He winked. "What do you say?"

Parin grabbed Jack up by the lapels and gave him a hungry kiss.

"Thought you'd never ask," he said, tugging Jack out the back door.


	4. Chapter 4

Author's Note: This feels very Ace. Way to stick up for the little guy!

(Astute readers will notice that the Prosemo character we're introduced to, in this scene, is the one we saw very briefly in the first scene of this story.)

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>1.2 <em>_million years ago…_

"Never heard of her," said the worker, pushing past Ace and heading back to the factories.

Ace watched him go.

"Never heard of her," Ace muttered. "Just like everyone else around here." She kicked the side of a building, irritated. "Typical! The one person I want to meet, and the Professor brings me here too early!"

Time to figure out where the Doctor had wandered off to, so she could yell at him.

Then the air around Ace flickered. Shimmered.

And, from nowhere, ten policemen teleported in, guns in hand, all pointed at Ace.

"Freeze," they commanded. "You are under arrest for fifteen counts of seditionist activity. Come quietly, confess, and you may receive a more lenient sentence."

Ace, seeing there was nowhere to run, and figuring those teleports could probably trace her anywhere, put up her hands.

"Yeah, yeah, I know the drill," she said.

They grabbed her up, twisting her around and sliding a device over her wrists that wasn't entirely unlike handcuffs.

Worst of all, they confiscated her rucksack.

"Careful with that," Ace warned them, as they shook the rucksack open. "Unless you want it to blow your face off."

"Explosive material," the police confirmed, taking out one of her cans of Nitro-9. "Definitely part of the group, then." Turned to the others, holding Ace. "Looks like we're gonna be working a double shift, tonight."

The policeman restraining Ace all groaned.

"If I'm too much trouble, you could let me go," Ace proposed.

"Nice try," said the police.

Without even having to press a single button or flip a single switch — with just the twitch of an eyebrow from the head policeman — Ace felt the teleport beam surround her and the rest of them…

And she was gone.

* * *

><p>It was, Ace soon found out, her mention of "the Great Warrior" that had put her on the police's radar. Apparently, the Doctor hadn't taken them to the Irkoli Empire too early. He'd brought them there too late.<p>

Which didn't make sense.

"This is _after_ the Great Warrior?" Ace asked the police around her. She shook her head. "But she's supposed to have destroyed the Empire! If she's gone, then the Empire should be gone, too!"

The police didn't actually really care what she was saying, though.

Apparently, they'd caught her at the end of their shift. And police policy said that if a team arrested a troublemaker at the end of their shift, they had to stay late to interrogate her. At no extra pay.

Which meant most of the police discussions weren't about the Great Warrior or Ace. They were mostly about how to weasel their way out of pulling a double shift.

Eventually, they decided to just label her as the highest security risk possible. That way, she'd get hoisted onto the formal Interrogators.

And they could go home.

Which meant, as a result, Ace was shoved into a cell filled with other people, and then just kind of… abandoned. Which was good! It meant Ace had a chance to break out of there, find the Doctor, figure out what he was actually playing at by taking them to the wrong time, and see whether or not he'd managed to sneak in another master-plan behind her back.

"Probably has," Ace sighed.

She headed over to the back wall of the prison, trying to check it for weak points. Anything she could use to her advantage. Or maybe she could pretend she was having a heart attack, then leap up and tackle the guards to the ground—

A groan, as Ace walked into something.

Nope.

Walked into some_one_.

Ace looked down, to find an old man huddled on the floor. He looked bruised, battered, beaten and worn down. His eyes sunken and the side of his head caked in dried blood.

"Sorry," Ace said. Knelt down by him, and — seeing him shiver, offered him her jacket. "Here. Warm up a bit."

The old man took it with trembling fingers.

Ace helped him drape it over his shoulders.

"Looks like they really roughed you up," Ace noted. Scowled. "I hate thugs. Beating up innocent people who can't defend themselves."

"He won't answer you," said another voice.

A woman stepped out of the shadows. She was around Ace's age, but her hair was short, her face stubborn and determined, and she had a symbol tattooed on her arm.

"That's Prosemo Kieren," said the woman. "Everyone's always surprised to see him, here. We all thought he died back when the Great Warrior got taken."

Ace didn't know the name.

But obviously, she was supposed to.

"But they've been keeping him alive," said the woman, kneeling down in front of the old man, and offering him a flask of water. "Artificially prolonging his life, giving him those Ficoloit Treatments like the rich people pay for in the Outer Worlds."

"They've been keeping him alive so they can torture him?" Ace cried.

The man — Prosemo — still didn't speak.

But he took the water, gratefully, and drank.

"Gives you hope, doesn't it?" said the woman. She smiled at Ace. "After all. Two hundred years of life takes a lot of expense. If they've been keeping him alive this long, working on him this hard, it means he's the only one who knows a secret. A secret that's still relevant."

She looked around.

Then leaned in, whispered, "Might even mean the legends are true. That the Great Warrior left us a hidden weapon to bring down the Empire. And Prosemo's the only one who knows about it."

Ace looked back at Prosemo.

Realizing… whoever this was… he must be the only person left who'd met the Great Warrior. Known her personally. Known her secrets.

And if the Great Warrior had left something behind that they could use…

Oh, Ace hoped it was explosives!

"And he told you this?" Ace whispered back.

The woman shook her head, with a sigh. "He won't talk to us, either," she admitted. "Hasn't told his secrets to anyone, since the day the Great Warrior fell."

Ace nodded, slowly.

Then turned back to the old man.

"Prosemo, right?" Ace said. She gave him her most comforting smile. "Don't worry. I'm Ace. My friend, the Doctor, he's gonna get us out of here. Then we'll find this hidden something, use it, and take down the Empire ourselves. Like the Great Warrior always wanted to do!"

Prosemo shuddered away from her.

Apparently, he'd heard this kind of thing before. And didn't believe a word of it.

The cell slammed open, revealing a group of armed men and about five others, attired in white robes. They advanced on Prosemo, as everyone shuddered away from them, and the woman tugged Ace into a corner.

Shushing her.

Prosemo looked up at them, through tired eyes. One of the white-robed figures back-handed Prosemo across the face, and the old man seemed almost to expect it.

"Stubborn as ever?" said the white-robed figure. He grabbed up Prosemo by his tattered shirt. "Do you need another visit to your Great Warrior to convince you that you've lost?"

A single tear rolled down Prosemo's cheek.

But he remained silent.

"We can end your suffering," said the white-robed figure. "You can be like all your other rebel friends — oblivious. A stasis statue. This can end, if you cooperate."

Still, nothing from Prosemo.

The white-robed figure snarled, then shoved the man to the ground and kicked him towards the door. "Move!"

Ace had had enough of this.

She struggled out of the woman's grip, then surged forwards, in between Prosemo and the white robed figures. "Pick on someone your own age, robey," she snapped.

Everyone in the cell fell completely silent.

Prosemo looked up, eyes suddenly wide and fearful. Shaking his head at Ace, as if to ask… what have you done?

Ace just stood her ground.

The white-robed figures looked at one another. Then back at Ace.

"If you insist," they said, as they dragged her off for interrogation.


	5. Chapter 5

Author's Note: Sorry for posting delays. I've been busy and slightly distracted, recently.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>"There's no use in your trying to be a hero, Ms. McShane," said the white-robed interrogator. He struck out with his club, to Ace's right — and a surge of electricity poured out of the club, just missing her. "We've got ways to make you tell us everything. But it'll be easier for you if you tell, voluntarily."<p>

Ace couldn't start to express how furious she was!

At these thugs, who were beating people up for kicks, just because they mentioned the Great Warrior!

At the empire that was inflicting this on its citizens!

And at herself. For getting into this situation… and not being sure how to get out of it.

"Eat dirt, toe-rag," Ace snapped.

Another white-robed interrogator began pacing the room, in front of her. "You said that you believe our empire throws planets into black holes, and performs some kind of ritual with… stuffed dolls." Shot Ace a hard stare. "Is this the propaganda your rebel leaders are spouting, to take us down? Do you really think anyone will believe that?"

"They'll believe it because it's true," Ace retorted. Struggling against her bonds. "You can't treat people like this, and think you'll get away with it! Look at Prosemo. An old man, and you're…!"

"Prosemo Kieren is not a hero," snapped the first interrogator. "He's putting all your lives at risk — and the sooner you rebels figure that out, the better it'll be for everyone."

"Yeah, and I'll bet if he talks, that'd make your life a lot easier," Ace growled.

"Let's start this again," said the second interrogator. "You have intimate knowledge of the Great Warrior. You claim she'll 'rise again', and take down the Empire." He stepped closer to Ace. "Have you rebels figured out a way to do that? Is this part of some big plan to revive her?"

"What's it to you if it is?" Ace snapped.

Didn't know exactly what was going on, but if her book was right and the Great Warrior was supposed to take down the Empire… maybe this was how it happened.

Maybe she got revived, or woken up from this stasis whatsit by the rebels, so she could destroy the Empire!

The first interrogator activated the electricity inside the club, and made to shoot it at Ace — but was stopped by the second.

Right.

Looked like Good-Cop-Bad-Cop existed even outside the Milky Way.

"It would be better for everyone if you just told us the truth," said the second interrogator. "Have you found a way to revive the Great Warrior? Who are the scientists working for your rebellion, where are they, and how can we locate them?"

"Not telling," Ace said.

Funny thing was… Ace could have sworn those interrogators sounded sincerely worried about this. Maybe even a little scared.

"These rebels are all knuckle-fisted idiots!" shouted the first interrogator.

The second held out a hand, to calm his colleague. "You think you're fighting for independence," the interrogator said to Ace, "but you're not. If you don't tell us what you know, you're all going to die."

"And you'll be the one to pull the trigger?" Ace guessed.

"She's even worse than that Prosemo!" the first interrogator shoved himself in Ace's face, so close that she winced away. "We want the Great Warrior revived just as much as you. Don't you get that, rebel?"

This threw Ace for a loop.

Because with him this close, she could see under his white hood. Into his eyes.

He looked _scared_.

"When you say… everyone's going to die…" Ace started, a little uneasily, "…do you mean…?"

"Everyone on Trianxyl, yes," said the second interrogator. "Maybe more."

"So you better tell us," said the first interrogator, "how to revive the Great Warrior!" He raised up the club. "Or I'll—"

"The Doctor!" Ace said.

Both interrogators paused.

Then stepped away from her, conferring quietly amongst themselves.

"Doctor," said the second interrogator. "Who is this… 'Doctor'?"

"Someone who can help," said Ace. "Someone who saves planets all the time!" She tried to get out of her restraints, but they held her fast. "I can see you two are really scared about something. I can see that you need someone who can do the impossible! And that means — you need the Doctor!"

"It's some kind of rebel trick," said the first interrogator. "She's stalling for time."

"Unless there is some… 'Doctor'," the second mused, "who has discovered a way of reversing the—"

The doors open and another white-robed, hooded interrogator walked in. Paused by the second interrogator, speaking quietly with him. The face of the second interrogator grew a little graver.

"I'm afraid… our superiors have decided you are lying," said the second interrogator. Suddenly cold and unfeeling. "The order has been given."

The first interrogator met his colleague's eyes. And grinned.

"_That_ order?" he said.

"That order," the second confirmed.

Ace struggled to figure out what they were talking about. "What order?"

The first interrogator turned back to Ace. "Today's your lucky day," he told her. "You're going to meet the Great Warrior."

"But isn't she…?" Ace started.

"On a plinth," the second interrogator agreed, "in the Stasis Room of the Wolpakst Ship. The last thing you rebels see… before you join her." He cleared his throat, looking at Ace as if he were above her. "It's a merciful death. Painless. Better than your group deserves."

"Death?!" Ace wished she'd read her book more carefully, instead of just skipping to the good  
>bits. She thought this Stasis… whatsits… just kept people in suspended animation. She didn't think it <em>killed<em> them!

"The body and mind are perfectly preserved — in stasis," said the first interrogator. "An irreversible stasis field. But the moment you lose awareness, the brain begins to atrophy from lack of use. A slow, lingering death, over centuries."

"But entirely painless," said the second interrogator. "So long as you're in stasis, you won't be aware of the condition. In truth… you'll be dead before you know anything's happened at all."

Ace was really not liking this.

Not one bit.

"Take her away," the second interrogator commanded the new hooded figure, unchaining Ace from the wall and shoving the chains into the figure's hands. "There's no use wasting any more time on her."

Ace struggled, trying to break free from the chains. But failing.

"You have to listen to me!" Ace shouted at them. "Whatever you're afraid of, the Doctor can help! He'll sort it, just you wait and…!"

But she was dragged out of the interrogation room before she could finish.

Door shut and locked firmly behind her.

* * *

><p>Ace kept struggling and shouting, as the hooded figure led her down the corridors. "Will you at least tell me what's going on?!" Ace insisted. "Why do you want to revive the Great Warrior? What are you so scared of? And why won't you believe me about the Doctor?!"<p>

"Oh, I do believe you," said the familiar Scottish lilt from the hooded figure, in a very low voice. "I'd just rather not advertise it to the rest of the people here."

Ace started at the voice.

Then struggled to hide the grin on her face.

The Professor!

He'd come to rescue her.

"Now march, rebel!" the Doctor announced, in a loud voice. Then, in a barely audible but highly concerned whisper, "Have they hurt you?"

"Like I'd take orders from you, toe-rag!" Ace shouted back. Then, in a whisper, added, "No, not a scratch. Care to explain why we're 200 years late?"

"Two hundred?" the Doctor mused. Tapped his finger against his chin. "Time vectors did feel a little bumpy…"

Ace cleared her throat, wanting a better explanation than that.

But the Doctor, very wisely, decided not to answer. Instead, he bustled them into a room to his left, in which he bolted and locked the doors.

Then uncovered his hood.

"Professor, what's going on, here?" Ace said, rounding on him. "I thought this was a simple case of evil-empire-syndrome, but those two interrogators seemed really scared. They said they _wanted_ to revive the Great Warrior."

"Did they, indeed?" the Doctor mused.

But he had that air of smugness around him, which — to Ace — meant that he'd already known this from the second he'd show up.

Ace froze.

"Oh no," she said. Recognizing the look on his face. "This is another one of your master plans. Isn't it?"

"Master plan?" the Doctor said, pretending to be affronted by the mere suggestion. "Are you implying that I planted that book in your room knowing you'd start reading it, to make you want to come and visit this place — so that I could have the perfect excuse to drop by and save an oppressed people that I'd been meaning to save for millennia?"

"No," Ace countered. "I'm saying you planted that book in my room to make me come here. Then purposely piloted the TARDIS forwards in time without telling me, so I could be picked up by the police and dragged into this room, which would allow you to use," she spun around, and pointed at the machinery to her right, "that teleporter to get to this… Wolpakst Ship."

She paused.

Then turned back to the Doctor. "What is a Wolpakst Ship?"

"The government for the Irkoli Empire," said the Doctor, heading over to the teleporter. "Itinerant. Drifting between the different worlds making up their Empire — currently, closest to this one. And it's the most probable location of Prosemo Keiren — someone I'd very much like to have a word with."

But he didn't deny that this had been his plan all along.

Ace should have known.

"You _did_ plan this!" Ace accused.

"I never expected you to be labeled the highest security risk," the Doctor protested, taking out his sonic screwdriver and buzzing it at the teleport pad. "Usually, casual mention of the Great Warrior just gets you locked up for the night with local police patrols. You weren't testing out your Nitro 9, by any chance?"

"They were beating up an old man," Ace replied. "I stepped in."

The Doctor stopped his sonic screwdriver. Glanced back at her. "Old man?"

"Yeah, called…" Ace hesitated. Realizing, for the first time, that the Doctor had already said the name. Already knew.

"Prosemo," said the Doctor, tucking his sonic back into his pocket.

"Prosemo," Ace confirmed.

The Doctor nodded, slowly. "Suppose we'd better go rescue him, then." He reached down behind a computer bank, and brought out a very familiar rucksack. "And bring along the tools we need to do it."

"My rucksack!" Ace cried.

The Doctor handed it over to her. "Yes," he said. "Filled with all that Nitro 9 I told you not to pack."

Ace took the bag, nervously. "Ah, yes, well… you see…"

"Which we certainly won't need," the Doctor continued, raising up his hood and pointing his sonic screwdriver at one of the cameras outside the room, "to create a very large explosion that could get us all to safety."

He glanced back at her.

A twinkle in his eyes.

Ace gave a huge grin. "Wicked."


	6. Chapter 6

_Th__e Present Day…_

The sunshine glistened through the windows, across the bedroom.

As Junior Curator Parin hunted for his clothing, scattered across the room. An indignant look on his face.

"Absolutely not!" Parin insisted. Scrambling back into a pair of pants. "That statue is the Third Wonder of the Galaxy. What you're talking about is… vandalism!"

"You said she was still alive in there," said Jack. He crossed his arms. "If you don't let me wake her up, you're condemning an innocent girl to an eternal living death."

"She's just a statue!" said Parin, turning back to face Jack. "Listen, last night was… lovely… but I can't let you deface a priceless artifact like this. The moment she wakes up… she becomes just another person. But when she's like this, she's valuable! A work of art! A piece of history!"

Jack shook his head.

Not letting him get away with that.

"She can't feel anything, anyways!" Parin insisted. "She's good as dead."

"I spent two thousand years being 'good as dead'," said Jack. "Buried beneath Cardiff. If she's going through anything half as fun as I went through, then… we're getting her out. Even if I have to force you."

Parin seemed confused. "Force…?"

Jack produced a small tube-like device. "Recognize this?"

Parin coughed, awkwardly. "I did say last night was lovely, didn't I?"

Jack twisted the top around, and the device opened up. Revealing a hidden bio-imprint device inside.

He set it to play.

The sounds of two men in the heat of passion began to echo through the room.

_"Don't stop!" begged Parin. "Please! Anything!"_

_"Hook me up to that statue and let me revive it?" Jack asked._

_"Yes!" Parin shouted. "Yes! Even… oh, Jack! More! Like that!"_

Jack shut off the recording. "Neat gadget," he commented. "It edits, too." Pressed a button. "See?"

He played it again.

Same words, but different inflection. Different implications. It sounded like they were speaking in the context of a formal meeting. Jack asking if he could revive the statue, and Parin calmly agreeing.

Parin seemed a little horrified. "But… but… that's not a legal contract!" he insisted. "We were in the middle of… other things. Even though it doesn't sound like it!" He straightened himself, trying to look more official. "And anyways, a contract requires the bio-imprint _and_ voice imprint of both parties. You can't possibly have my bio-imprint on file from when I made that—"

Parin stopped.

Then realized… just where that tube-like device had been, back when the recording had been made.

"Yeah," said Jack, flipping it closed. "I show this to anyone else… and you're going to jail for conspiring to deface a work of art. But if you help me, and we succeed in waking her up… you'll be a hero. Saving a life."

Parin's face was still a little flushed and flustered from the last few moments. As he ran a hand through his hair. "You do realize," he said, in his last desperate attempt to save his job and the priceless artifact he was about to deface, "that there's no possible way _to_ revive her? No one's ever come out of stasis before and lived to tell the tale. Even the few statues we thought were still alive died the moment we tried to revive them."

Jack's eyes twinkled. "You sure about that?"

He grabbed up the journal featuring Professor Effrotz's paper concerning the Resurrection Tales.

"It was a long-shot," said Jack, flipping through the pages. "But I thought… what if he _knew_ she'd end up like this? What if he left some kind of message?"

He landed on the page he wanted.

Then slid the journal over to Parin.

"And then I found _that_," said Jack, pointing to it.

Parin picked up the journal. Read, out loud, "In nearly every tale, the hero is no more than a stone statue, before a mental or emotional connection is made to them, and the hero magically revives. Grovin finds his lost twin sister. Quorti sheds tears over her long forgotten husband. Perdita and Leontes, after their reunion, discover a statue of the Queen they've wronged. In all these instances, it's the connection that brings the statue back to life."

"You don't know who Perdita and Leontes are, huh?" said Jack. "You recognize all the other stories. But not that one."

Typical Doctor.

"The… Resurrection Tales were never my field of study," Parin insisted.

"Neither are English playwrights from other galaxies," Jack replied. "_The Winter's Tale_. By William Shakespeare. The Doctor must have shoved that in there to get my attention."

Parin didn't understand.

"You've got neural projection tech, here, right?" Jack said. He spread open his arms. "Well strap me up and project me into her head. She knows me. I'll get her out of there."

"That's mad!" cried Parin. "You'd die."

Jack laughed. "Wouldn't be the first time," he said. Clapping Parin on the back, and handing him his shirt. "Maybe I'll inspire a few Resurrection Tales of my own!"

* * *

><p>Parin had quadruple locked the door.<p>

Shifting, nervously, between the equipment hooked up to Jack, and the equipment hooked up to the statue. Getting everything ready for the projection.

And grumbling.

"…going to lose my job," he muttered, "maybe even go to jail…" He clicked open a hypo, then stabbed it into Jack's arm. "Slept with one cute guy, and look where it got me!"

"Bet it was worth it," said Jack, with a wink.

Parin didn't answer.

The flush on his face probably said more than he wanted.

"You know what I think?" said Parin, turning away. "You just want to take the statue for yourself when I'm not looking. This is all some… con!"

Jack sighed.

Let Parin get on with it. Trying not to think about the real reason he was doing this — because he couldn't stand to lose one more person, just after Steven and Ianto…

Ianto…

"You ready for this?" said Parin, getting ready to flip the switch and start the neural projection. "Because it's almost certainly going to kill you."

"Don't unplug me from her head for five minutes, after I die," Jack said. "Just promise me that."

Parin grumbled.

Then flipped the switch.

Jack felt the transfer working through his mind. Compressing his mental essence, transferring it over into another mind, before…

Jack screamed as he struck something, full on, in Seo's mind. Like he was being torn between five different speeds of time at once, and his psyche couldn't cope.

Pain seared through him.

And he died.


	7. Chapter 7

Jack gasped back to life on a beach.

The waves lapping against the shore, calm and soothing, around him. He was splayed out, on the sand, between the sea and…

Well.

It looked like an impossibly high stone wall, surrounding a gigantic fairy-tale looking castle. Constructed from glistening white marble, the gentle sun shining off every turret and wall and making the whole thing look bright and cheery.

"So, Seo," said Jack, getting up and dusting the sand off his clothes. "This is your mind."

Bit fairytale for his tastes.

Still, despite the overall cheeriness, there was something… sad about it. Desperately sad. As if every single ounce of this mind was crying, all the time, and only focused its concentration on creating the castle so it could find a way to stop.

The sense of loss was overpowering.

"What happened to you, Seo?" Jack muttered.

He'd only just begun heading over towards the wall surrounding the castle, trying to figure out how to scale it, get inside… when he heard a noise. Or… more like… a humming sound.

He spun around.

And stopped breathing.

As he stared at that little boy with the fair hair and dark eyes, skipping around the sand, looking like he was playing and didn't have a care in the world. It was a little boy Jack would recognize anywhere.

"Steven," Jack called.

The boy looked up at Jack.

And it _was_ him. That same little boy Jack had sacrificed to stop the 456. That same little boy that Jack had watched die, knowing that… he'd killed his own grandson. His own…

The boy raced forwards, excited, and rushed at Jack. Hopping and skipping and jumping in circles around him, laughing in happiness and joy.

Jack stepped away. "That's… that can't be… you can't be… here!" he said. "Seo never knew you or Alice. She couldn't have…!"

Steven stopped skipping and hopping.

Paused, on the sand, suddenly very still. His eyes fixed on Jack.

"Say something," Jack demanded. "What's going on? How are you here?"

Steven didn't answer.

Instead, his face dropped into a low, sad, sulking pout. And he opened his hands, as if wanting a hug.

"You're not Steven," Jack said, turning and running away from the little boy. "Steven is dead."

As Jack's whole mentally compressed self throbbed with the guilt-ridden memories. With the pain and the shame and the horror of the whole thing, flashing through him again. He had to get out of here. Run away, because facing the boy he destroyed and begging forgiveness was… too hard. Way too hard.

How could he ever _be_ forgiven?

Jack must have run half way around the castle before he finally stopped. Leaning over, panting with the mental exertion of running away from his worst nightmares.

"What the…?" came a voice to his left.

Jack spun around.

There was a gate in the wall. Like a drawbridge to a castle. And standing in front of that gate, guarding the castle that contained Seo's mind and innermost thoughts…

Was himself.

"What are you doing here?" said the Guard-Jack. Then he stood right in front of the door, putting on that same stern look he always gave Seo when she was in trouble. "Real people aren't allowed in here. You've gotta leave."

Real-Jack dropped his head, and laughed. "I'm the person you trust to keep intruders out of your head, Seo?" he muttered. "Your first line of defense?"

Jack had to admit.

He really missed her, when he didn't see her for a while.

"Yeah, I know, pretty flattering, huh?" said Guard-Jack, with a wink. "Still not letting you in, though. No real people. No psychic intruders. That's my job."

Jack examined his other self. Gave a self-satisfied whistle. "Do I really look like that?" he said. "Or is she just remembering my good side?"

The Guard-Jack wasn't listening, though.

He'd suddenly gone rigid and serious, his face stony. He whipped out his gun, pointing it over Jack's shoulder, shouting, "Don't move!"

Jack turned.

To discover Steven standing there, just behind them.

His toes in the sand, the waves lapping at his heels as they swept in and out.

"Whoever or whatever you are, I told you before," said Guard-Jack, gun still leveled at the boy. "Leave, or I'll put a bullet through your skull."

Steven looked up at Real-Jack.

That same exact expression on his face as he'd had, when he'd been put into the focus point of the transmission to the 456. A lack of understanding, and a trust that Jack would look after him.

"You asked for it," said Guard-Jack. Pressing down on the trigger.

Real-Jack sprung at him, slamming the Seo-created-mental-image of himself down against the sand. Wrestling for the gun. The Guard-Jack tried to flail out, strike back, but Real-Jack wasn't taking that. Not now. Not ever.

Punched his other self in the face.

Then realized he couldn't stop. Couldn't stop hitting and kicking and striking at this mirror image of himself — the _bastard_ who'd _murdered Steven_, the family-killing failure who'd dragged Ianto into a situation that got him killed, nearly got Gwen killed, actually did get Alison's head blown off, and… and…!

"Bastard!" Jack screamed at himself. "How dare you? How dare you?!"

The Guard-Jack reached for his revolver, but Real-Jack got in, first. Grabbed up the gun, pointing it at his other self. Eyes full of venom and hate for… for this…

Real-Jack felt a small tug at his military greatcoat.

Looked down to see Steven staring back up at him. Eyes wide and pleading.

Jack lowered the gun.

Dropped it in the sand. A single tear running down his cheek.

As the mind around him responded with its own sorrow. The gentle splash of rain pouring down from a cloud-free sky.

Seo's tears for a loss of her own, that she felt so deeply.

Guard Jack, now looking bloody and beaten, got back to his feet. Took his place, in front of the gate to Seo's mind. "I'm not letting that _thing_ in here," he said. "We've been under siege for who knows how long, and I'm not about to step aside and let the enemy infect this mind, now!"

Real Jack blinked.

Looked down at little Steven, beside him. The child who seemed so very innocent, so very real…

And yet…

"You don't know who he is," Real-Jack guessed. "Do you?"

"An infection," hissed Guard-Jack, through gritted teeth. As he began to heal, quickly, from the beating Real-Jack had given him. "A disease. Don't know what image he's putting on, this time, but I'm not letting him in. Not for anything."

Real-Jack could see it, in his other-self's eyes.

Steven was a complete stranger to him.

"Steven?" said Jack. "Alice? What about Lucia Moretti? They're your family. Your _real_ family."

"I don't have a family," Guard-Jack retorted. "Torchwood's my family. Or it was. Now it's a crater."

And since Guard-Jack only knew what Seo knew…

That meant… whoever or whatever was pretending to be Steven… originated outside of Seo's head.

"Seo was like my family, too," Guard-Jack continued. "But I had to run away from Seo, again. Just like I did when the Master showed up. Because that's my way of punishing her for doing something bad — like killing her own mom."

The words hit Jack like a bullet through his head.

"Buffy… is…?" Jack breathed.

The loss and grief overpowering this whole place finally made sense. Oh, God — Buffy!

"Mom died because Seo killed her," Guard-Jack replied. "That's why everyone's punishing Seo. Why I left her — you left her. Why Father thinks she's a failure. Because Mom's dead."

This was what was going through Seo's head?

What her mental image of him was telling her, in her own imagination?

"I'm not punishing her," Jack insisted. "No one's… punishing her! I'm trying to save her life." He walked over to his Guard-Self. "Seo's mind is on lock-down. I can see that. You're under siege, not letting anything in — and maybe that's why she's still alive while everyone else caught in this stasis technology died."

"We're in war conditions," said Guard-Jack. "Been so for… maybe a week."

"A week?!" Real-Jack cried. He pointed across the ocean. "She's been like this for a million years!"

Guard-Jack faltered. "That doesn't make sense."

A figure appeared, on top of the wall, pointing a bow and arrow down at Real-Jack and Steven. Tall, dark features, sharp eyes. "That thing back again?" said Alison Korjensky.

"Not just him," said Guard-Jack. "Could use some backup. Is Harry around?"

"Right here," came a voice that Jack _really _didn't recognize.

Which was when… bizarrely enough… a replica of Harry Potter showed up on the top of the wall, wielding a wand.

Real-Jack raised his hands in the air. "Seo… has Harry Potter inside her mind? Okay, then."

"I will always defend Seo," Harry replied, "because my parents died to save my life from the evil Lord Voldemort. Just like Seo's birth-parents died protecting her, in her own universe."

Oh.

A remnant of Seo's childhood, an imaginary friend.

"Of course, I don't like her now that she's killed her own mom," Harry continued. "No one can forgive that."

"Oi! Intruder thing!" shouted Alison, pulling back an arrow, aimed right at Steven. "Shove off! No matter what bad things Seo's done, we're not letting you in here."

"You're not getting Seo," Harry agreed. "Not ever."

Real-Jack hesitated. Looking between little Steven, now cowering behind Jack's legs, and Seo's imaginary friends who were guarding the inner sanctum of her mind. And who all believed they'd only been fighting for a week.

Something was keeping Seo alive, but unaware, for a million years. Locked in stasis.

Was this it?

This stalemate?

"Something has to give," Jack decided.

"Yeah?" Alison said. "You just tell that to Aragorn when he turns up. We've got an army, and we're prepared to use it."

"Even if Seo is a murderer," Harry added.

Jack felt frustrated. "Okay, first, shut up about that!" he shouted. "Whatever Seo did, whatever happened — she's not a murderer. Never will be."

"We all blame her," Alison said.

"No, she blames herself," said Jack. "She's harping on it. Real Alison would never act like this."

Alison exchanged a look with Harry.

Shrugged.

Didn't drop their defensive positions against Steven.

"I care about Seo," Jack told them. "As much as you. But whatever happened, she doesn't deserve to be frozen for a million years over it! And if nothing gives, if you guys continue at a stalemate, I'm guessing she'll keep being frozen until the end of the universe!"

For five seconds, the sound of the ocean stopped. As the waves froze. And something about the ground beneath their feet… seemed to tremble, very slightly.

"That's ridiculous," Alison dismissed. "A million years? We haven't been like this for a million years."

"Maybe it's a million in Wizard Years," Harry offered.

Alison sighed. "A Wizard Year is exactly the same length as a regular Earth Year. How many times do I have to tell you that?"

The ocean had resumed.

The ground had grown still, once more.

But Jack had felt the ambient mind reacted to his statement.

"You lie!" said Guard-Jack.

"Says the surface chatter of Seo's mind," Real-Jack, nodding at Alison, Harry, Guard-Him. "That's you guys." Then he waved his hand, gesturing at the landscape surrounding them. "But the world around us knew what I was talking about. That means, somewhere deep in Seo's subconscious… she knows the truth."

A little hand took Jack's.

Steven's.

Jack looked down at him. Sighed. And shook his head.

"I don't know who you are," Jack said, softly. "But you're not Steven. You just want me to think you are, so I'll let you inside Seo's mind."

Steven didn't say a word.

"Are you the stasis field?" Jack asked the boy. "Trying to break in and kill her?"

The boy still didn't answer.

Just squeezed Jack's hand tighter, and stepped forwards. Extended his free hand at the others, a string of sounds… Jack couldn't interpret or even process… flowing from the boy's mouth.

Jack felt something sapped out of him, as the boy began to glow…

And a stream of golden flame shot out from the boy's hand.

Seo's guardians cried out.

As the ground beneath them shook into an earthquake, the walls to Seo's castle cracked, and the guardians to Seo's mind all fell under the impact of the beam. Their eyes shut.

Every person unmoving.

Jack stared at what had just happened. Then stared down at little Steven, still holding his hand. "What the…?!"

Jack tried to let go of the boy's hand.

But couldn't.

"What are you?" Jack breathed.

The boy gave a large grin. Then skipped towards the cracked walls of the castle, humming to himself, as he dragged Jack along behind.

And Jack had the horrible, sinking feeling… that he might have just made a terrible mistake.


	8. Chapter 8

_1.2 __million years ago…_

The bang blew away about half the prison complex.

As the Doctor and Ace staggered to freedom, carrying Prosemo between them, and doing their best to weave out of the way of the soldiers who'd just opened fire.

"So you're Prosemo!" said the Doctor, as they ran. "Pleased to meet you. I'm the Doctor."

Prosemo didn't answer.

"Professor," Ace whispered. "Shouldn't we ask him…?"

"All in good time, Ace," the Doctor said.

They ducked into a nearby building, the Doctor sonicing the door shut. Ace set Prosemo down, then raced over to help the Doctor barricade the door.

Prosemo didn't say a word.

"Sit down," the Doctor said, after they were done. He pulled up a chair, helped Prosemo into it. "I've scrambled their communications and navigation equipment, so they won't be finding us for a while." He reached into his jacket, and brought out a thermos and some tea cups. "Plenty of time for some tea and a pleasant chat."

Prosemo still said nothing.

Didn't even take the tea, when the Doctor poured it for him.

Instead, he looked away. Stubbornly. Blocking out the world around him, as if it didn't matter.

"Trust the Doctor," Ace urged Prosemo, placing a hand on his arm. "Whatever's wrong, he can help!"

Prosemo still said nothing.

"The Great Warrior was your friend, yeah?" Ace guessed. "You want her back. The Professor can help with that!"

"Ace!" the Doctor chided.

Prosemo didn't look like he believed her. Didn't respond.

Just yanked his arm away from Ace, and stared pointedly at the far wall, away from them.

Ace sighed. Turned back to the Doctor. "It's no use, he won't talk," she said. "Both the rebels and the interrogators have been trying for almost two centuries, and he still won't say a word."

"He won't," the Doctor replied, sipping his own tea, "because no one would believe him, or care, if he did tell the truth." His voice lowered, eyes fixed on Prosemo. "The truth that the Great Warrior's main purpose, here, _wasn't _to bring down the Empire."

Prosemo jumped.

Snapping his head around to stare at the Doctor, directly, for the first time. Mouth forming words, but no voice coming.

"What?" said Ace.

The Doctor ignored her. Just looked deep into Prosemo's eyes, the way he did when he managed to get people to tell him everything. "I'm right, aren't I, Prosemo?"

A look of sheer relief passed across Prosemo's face.

"She's become a story," Prosemo said. His voice was cracked and crumbly from lack of use, and he had to swallow several times before he could continue. "A symbol. But they never knew _her_. The rebels, the government — no one ever listened to the truth. No one cared, and no one understood!"

Ace saw their chance.

"But we'll understand everything," she chimed in. Pulling up a chair, herself. "Won't we, Professor?"

"Certainly!" the Doctor said, with a smile. Pushing the tea closer to Prosemo. "So tell us, Prosemo. What did she want to do, before she was known as the Great Warrior? Tell us about her, back when she was the Speaker for the Forgotten."

* * *

><p><em>Present Day…<em>

The little boy in Seo's mind who wasn't really Steven dragged Jack after him. Racing through the gigantic space past the castle walls, as if he knew exactly where he was going. Jack couldn't get free. Had no idea who the child really was, or why it was here.

But the child knew where it wanted to go.

It grabbed at a door, yanked it, hard. Trying to get it open.

"You will not enter here!" shouted a voice from behind.

Jack glanced behind him, to discover Aragorn galloping forwards, sword drawn. Steven squeaked, and yanked on the door even harder.

The door gave way.

Steven tumbled inside, into the darkness, dragging Jack along with him. The door snapping shut and sealing them in.

For a moment, there was nothing but blackness surrounding them.

Then… Jack could see something. A pleasant-looking street, lots of big houses and happy children running around, playing. The whole place looked like a futuristic version of a suburban paradise, except there was something decidedly different about the architecture and layout of the planet. As if none of these people had ever even heard of an Earth-style suburbia, before.

"Is _this_ the Irkoli Empire?" Jack found himself saying.

Except it wasn't his voice.

A female voice. Seo's voice. As he walked down the street, examining, a curiosity running through his mind.

Then the whole thing was gone. A fragment.

Skipping on to the next.

Which was when Jack realized… these were Seo's memories he'd raced into. He was seeing what she did and said and felt… as if he _were_ her.

A million years ago.

Steven still stood beside him, clutching his hand.

Never letting go.

The memory shifted to show the inside of a family house, lime green and sloping walls, the mother serving her children dinner, as they teased each other and called each other "booger-brains".

"Evil?" the mother said, confused. "If the Empire was evil, we wouldn't be part of it. Would we?"

"I've heard rumors," came Seo's voice, from Jack's mouth. "About how the Irkoli Empire rules through fear. Throws planets into black holes, if those planets become a threat. Extinguishes suns, makes people disappear off the streets, tortures and degrades and inspires terror in its followers."

The mother seemed completely at a loss.

Jack could feel Seo's mind churning, like crazy, trying to make sense of it.

"Who've you been listening to? Conspiracy theorists?" The mother shook her head. "It doesn't even make sense."

"It doesn't?"

"The Empire's governed by a small handful of people," said the mother. "That's it. Most laws are made by local world governments. We run our own police and military. The Empire basically just steps in to help with diplomacy."

"Really?"

"Really," the mother agreed. Then, with a laugh, added, "The Empire doesn't even have a central army — unless the worlds under their protection decide to lend it troops."

Seo's mind grew extremely curious, at this.

Thinking through possibilities and implications, even as the mother frantically tried to stop her children from starting up a food fight.

From what Jack was hearing, the Empire sounded less like Star Wars and more like… NATO.

"Listen, I know the threat of mutually assured destruction is real," said the mother, after she'd settled her children down. "It's why the Empire was formed in the first place. But the Empire's given us safety and prosperity in other ways, too. Empire technology has supplied us with medicines that expand life exponentially, vanquish practically all disease at little cost to us, and… well… the Empire's transit systems have provided an underlying framework for our lives."

"How so?" said Seo.

"My husband works in the Ormedo Cluster, seventy thousand parsecs away," said the mother. "I work only forty thousand parsecs away, around the Corow Nebula. But we're still able to live here, next door to our parents and grandparents and great-grandparents, in a place where our kids can get an excellent education and traditional upbringing — for a very reasonable price." She crossed her arms. "That's thanks to the Empire."

Once again, Seo's mind whirred with intrigue. Trying to figure out how the accounts had all gotten this so wrong. And — if every myth had a grain of truth — where that truth was coming from.

And what did she mean — mutually assured destruction? Just what else was going on in this galaxy?

"Besides, they've eliminated poverty," the mother said, getting back to her children. "What more could you ask for?"

That struck at a chord in Seo's mind.

"Eliminated… poverty?" Seo asked. "What? You mean completely?!"

* * *

><p><em>1.2 million years ago…<em>

Ace listened to Prosemo's cracked, strained voice.

As he told the Doctor his story.

"She never wanted to hurt anyone," said Prosemo. "She first came to the Empire because she thought it was evil. But she landed in the Outer Worlds. Saw the peace and prosperity there. Empire technology. Empire transit. And… the lack of poverty. "

The Doctor nodded.

"She told me… their story didn't make sense to her," said Prosemo. "Poverty doesn't just disappear. Economically, in a capitalist system like this one, that'd make everything fall apart."

"Yes, I see," the Doctor muttered. "Very clever."

"Then she saw the technology," said Prosemo. "And she knew the amount of energy it would require was vast. Too vast. There was no way the Empire could possibly function the way everyone thought it did."

"And so your Speaker for the Forgotten put two and two together," the Doctor guessed. "Went to the source of the energy used by the Empire's technology, and found herself… here."

Prosemo nodded.

"The Powerhouse Worlds, where those their home worlds deem 'too poor' are shipped," Prosemo confirmed. "We're put to work. And then… forgotten."

"What did she call herself, when she first arrived?" said the Doctor. "The Speaker?"

Prosemo gave a cracked laugh.

Didn't answer.

* * *

><p><em>Present Day…<em>

Steven tugged at Jack's hand, leading him through the blackness and into another of Seo's memories.

This one of Seo checking readings on Oliver's console. Realizing she had gotten this right and traced the source of the energy, she turned and raced out of her ship. Stepping out onto the surface…

And seeing that huge swirling sun in the sky.

Its light sucked into the heart of a black hole.

"Black hole energy," Seo mused. "My sister mentioned something about that."

Jack knew it, just as Seo knew it. Could think the way she'd been thinking. About the time when they'd been on the world with the Totos, and she and her sister had both been healing, and chatting idly about anything they could think of.

Jenny had started talking about harnessing energy from black holes. Time Lords used to do that, Jenny explained, but she couldn't quite work out how. She had some ideas, of course.

And so she and Seo had begun brainstorming. Thinking outside the box.

All that came to Jack, in an instant, as he stared through Seo's eyes and Seo's memories, at the sun that swirled in orbit around the black hole. Crackling with red energy.

Then his eyes fell to the city, ahead. Beneath the dome. At the poorly built houses and unhappy workers trudging through the streets. Free from hope, free from dreams, just living one day to the next and not sure what to do about it.

"The Empire's underbelly," said Seo.


	9. Chapter 9

Author's Note: GO GIANTS! WOO-HOO!

On a totally different note...

Sorry about lack of reliable updates. I got sick. :-( Before I got sick, though, I was having a lot of fun trying to work out my own universe for my original fiction series. I've dug out my "How to Build a Time Machine" book that I bought back in college, and have been rereading all about naked singularities and what the laws of thermodynamics have to say about causal loops. It's really starting to come together; from the geometric problems relating to spacetime geometry, all the way to the socio-economic implications of a post-time-travel society.

Next, I get to work on my characters. Both those from the past and the future.

Anyways.

Enjoy!

I'm gonna go to sleep and get over this sickness. Oh, and... again... GO GIANTS!

* * *

><p><em>1.2 <em>_million years ago…_

"The Great Warrior wasn't a radical," said Prosemo. "She was… a mediator. That was the truth."

"A mediator," the Doctor repeated.

"We thought the Empire was evil, corrupt, authoritarian," said Prosemo. "That's how they've always ruled us."

"But they aren't, are they?" said the Doctor. "Not across the whole Empire. Just in this little section of it."

Prosemo nodded.

"For the Outer Worlds… the Empire is a non-intrusive, benevolent force," Prosemo agreed. "And the main peace-keeping force stopping all those outer worlds from annihilating one another."

Ace frowned.

"Yeah, but… they're still beating people up on the Powerhouse Worlds," Ace pointed out. Turned to the Doctor. "Professor, how could the Empire be so evil in that book I read, and be so oppressive here, but still be a peacekeeper in the Outer Worlds?"

"History is written by the winners, Ace," the Doctor said. Then, returning to Prosemo, "Go on. How did you meet the Speaker?"

Prosemo smiled. "I was a kid. A radical. I wanted to overthrow the system. Got together a group of rebels and troublemakers, started a series of terror campaigns against the Empire. But the police got wise, and chased us down. My group was hiding and desperate, when the Great Warrior showed up."

"Hiding and desperate," the Doctor muttered, pondering it over. "A group of radicals who think nothing of destroying lives. Yes…"

Ace knew, from a glance at him, that he was working something out.

Probably already had a great big theory in his mind, which he wasn't planning to share with her, any time soon.

"We didn't think a lot of her, at first," Prosemo said. "Just some girl. Dumb blonde type. But…" The hints of a smile drifted over his face, his eyes unfocused in the distance. "She convinced us all. Made us give up our old plans… and work towards _her _goals, instead."

"Did she, now?" the Doctor muttered. He tapped his chin, thoughtfully. "I thought she might."

Ace figured it was up to her to ask the obvious question. "How?"

Prosemo hesitated, just a second.

As if wondering… whether to reveal a secret even greater than any he'd revealed to them so far.

Then, in a whisper, leaning forwards, "She had a… machine."

"A ship?" the Doctor prompted.

"Yes, but… more than that," Prosemo said. He extended an arm open, to gesture around himself. "Her machine didn't just travel the stars. It travelled through _time_."

Ace's jaw dropped.

Turned to the Professor. But he didn't seem even remotely surprised.

"She pretended she sympathized with our cause, claimed she could help us take down the Empire. Until she got us into her machine — into her _ship,"_ Prosemo corrected himself. "Then she… took off."

"She kidnapped you," Ace said.

How had her history books gotten this so wrong?

"No, she… showed us," said Prosemo. "The Outer Worlds, through time. We'd heard about rich snobs in the Outer Worlds, taking advantage to grind us into the ground. But we didn't know… about the fear. The tensions, just below the surface." His voice grew quiet. "So many wars, threatening to break out. So many weapons, of such power…!"

"Mutually assured destruction," said the Doctor.

Ace blinked. "Atomic weapons?"

"Planetary annihilators," the Doctor corrected.

Something about the way he said it made Ace's blood run cold.

"Invented just before the rise of the Irkoli Empire," the Doctor said. "The Outer Worlds of this galaxy stockpiled them, in a galactic arms race. Some even tested them on planets that hadn't achieved space travel, yet. Billions upon billions… annihilated. And untold numbers more just waiting for their turn."

"Yes," Prosemo agreed, in a small voice. "She showed us."

"So the Irkoli Empire was the biggest bully of them all?" Ace guessed. "The winner of the arms race?"

Prosemo actually gave a hoarse chuckle at this.

Which collapsed into coughing.

"The Irkoli Empire wasn't involved in the arms race," the Doctor said, urging Prosemo to drink his tea and get rid of the coughing fit. "It was the peacemaker."

"The… Irkoli…" Prosemo corrected, struggling to speak through the ebbing cough. "…_Holiday _Empire."

Ace blinked.

Then blinked again.

"Holiday?" Ace cried. "What are you going on about, holiday…?"

"He's quite right," the Professor cut in. "Contrary to popular belief, the Irkoli Empire didn't begin as a political entity. It began as a travel agency."

* * *

><p><em>Present Day…<em>

Jack watched, through Seo's memories, as she went back in time, in the history of the Irkoli Galaxy, putting the final pieces together for her audience.

In a landscape of fear and terror…

One video screen, playing a happy little commercial.

"The Irkoli Holiday Empire!" the announcer chimed, chirpily. "Get to your vacation fast, and with a smile on your face!" The commercial showed little cartoon aliens all racing around, having fantastic holidays in peaceful places with wonderful weather and sunlight.

"But that can't be the same Irkoli Empire that…" came a young voice.

Jack, inside of Seo's memories, turned.

Came face-to-face with the young, fifteen-year-old radical, Prosemo, who'd been trying to take down the Empire with the help of his group of teenage misfits. But Seo was working on them about that.

"It's the exact same Irkoli Empire," Seo told them. "This is how it started."

The commercial cut off, back into a news broadcast. The news anchor had a grave face, as he announced, "Yesterday, Prince Vakolin of the planet Cewin was caught shipping a planetary annihilator to a strategic position, just outside of the Planet Halvix. Prince Vakolin claims it's simply a precaution, as the two planets have been at war for years, but the Halvix government has responded by stepping up…"

Seo shut the broadcast off.

Turned back to Prosemo. "This is how it started," she repeated. "This political climate. This kind of terror, across every world. And one single company… a travel agency… that decided to change it all."

"Why?" said Prosemo.

Seo had never liked research. Jack could feel her irritation and impatience at having done it, even in this memory. But the irritation was tampered by her need to make sure she got this one right. That this time, she succeeded. So she could prove to her father that he should be proud of her.

That she wasn't a failure.

Seo had done her research, this time, beforehand. Now, she just had to convince Prosemo and his friends of the truth.

She led the group of rebels back to Oliver. "Because no one was taking holidays, anymore!" Seo explained. "No-go zones were declared, across the galaxy. The best holiday planets were being used as testing sites for planetary annihilators. And dictators, scared people would try to flee, closed their borders. Travel became almost impossible."

She unlocked the door.

Ushered them all inside.

"So the Irkoli Holiday Empire decided to do something about it," Seo told them.

And zipped them all forwards through time. To the next important moment, in the emergence of the Irkoli Empire.

* * *

><p>"They're calling them 'peace talks'," one of the locals said, in the next time zone along, while glancing at a news broadcast. Then sighed. "But if you've seen the technology the Irkoli Holiday Empire's developed… it's pretty obvious why the participating worlds are interested. And it's nothing to do with 'peace.'"<p>

"Technology," Prosemo repeated.

"Near instantaneous travel, to anywhere in the galaxy!" said the local. "Think about it. Instantaneous troop movements! The ability to make a planetary annihilator bomb just show up, randomly, above another planet… with no fore-warning."

"You're worried this will turn into another arms race," Seo guessed.

The local glanced at the news broadcast, again. Reporting the peace talks that the Irkoli Holiday Empire had set up, between a handful of different worlds.

"I'm sure it will," said the local.

Turning, and walking off.

Prosemo turned back to Seo. Confused. "But… it didn't. Did it?"

Seo shook her head.

"By some miracle, the peace-talks worked," Seo said. "The Irkoli Holiday Empire offered discount rates on their travel technology, in exchange for peace treaties signed between worlds, and the allowance of free and affordable travel for everyone living on these planets."

"And the instantaneous troop movements?" Prosemo asked. "The planetary annihilators popping up out of nowhere?"

Seo led him and his friends back to her ship.

Skipped ahead, to ten years later.

The world they landed on looked different.

Everyone around them seemed happier. Less scared. The buildings were no longer blocky and unimaginative, but now ornate and intricate. The infrastructure of the city looked like one of prosperity and happiness.

"The worlds who signed up with the Irkoli Holiday Empire," Seo explained, in a soft voice, "wound up going through a massive economic boom. Everyone flocked to them. Everyone wanted to be part of them."

Prosemo was starting to get it.

"Why conquer people by force," Prosemo realized, "when those people already _want_ to join you?"

Seo nodded. "Soon, other planets will realize that they want this kind of economic prosperity, too. And the Irkoli Holiday Empire will expand its peace-treaty."

A broadcast flickered to life, hovering in the middle of the street.

"Here's today's Galactic News Bulletin!" said the news anchor. "Our top story. Today, Chairman Ulto of the planet Phyline finally decided to join the ever-expanding Irkoli Holiday Empire's Confederation of Planets. Chairman Ulto had to make peace with his long-time rival, Chancellor Sylontil of the planet Bryx. But, according to Ulto, that's a price worth paying for the rewards of Ikroli Empire membership!"

Prosemo turned back to Seo.

Trying to take this all in, as best he could.

"But how did it get from this," Prosemo said, "to what we see, in my time, on the Powerhouse Planets?"


	10. Chapter 10

Author's Note: Still sick. :-(

I've been having some problems with abuse on some of the other websites. So I think I'll post this up here and maybe on one other place, and then wait to post it elsewhere.

Thank you to those who sent me private messages that made me feel better during this. It's not fun getting abuse on a website that refuses to moderate correctly.

Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

><p><em>1.2 <em>_million years ago…_

Ace couldn't quite believe it.

"A travel agency took over the entire galaxy?!" she cried. "That's mad!"

"It's the truth," Prosemo replied. "It seems so implausible. But I saw enough evidence to convince me… that was what happened."

Prosemo broke down coughing, and Ace poured him some more tea from the Doctor's thermos. He drank it, gratefully.

"The travel technology that Irkoli had developed was amazingly fast, Ace," the Doctor explained to her. "So fast, it could make all the difference in a massive war."

"Instantaneous troop movements!" Ace worked out. "I get it."

"Precisely!" the Doctor agreed. "That's why all those planets initially signed up." He folded his hands against his umbrella, sitting back in his chair. "But as time passed, the travel technology became popular with the masses. It changed the way normal people lived — and the way they thought about themselves and the rest of the galaxy. Suddenly, people didn't _want_ to fight, anymore."

"It… huh?"

"Think about it," said the Doctor, waving his hand in the air. "If I live on the planet Hulvor, but commute to work on the planet Wyxi, and make friends with people who are commuting in from Oiro and Pertup — I'm not going to want to start a gigantic war with Oiro, Pertup, or Wyxi, am I? They're my friends. My neighbors. It'd be like starting a war in my own backyard."

Ace thought back to her travels, and all the various planets she'd seen where people _had_ started a war in their own backyards.

Looked at the Doctor, a little skeptically.

"Well, in theory, anyways," the Doctor admitted. "In practice… there are still a lot of planets out there willing to press the button and release Armageddon. Even now."

"And the only thing stopping them…" Ace started.

"…is the Irkoli Empire," the Doctor agreed. "And the stability and technology that Empire provides. Start a war, and your world would lose all the perks of being in the Irkoli Empire. And the rest of the Empire would unite against you and crush you, in an instant."

Oh.

"But if the Irkoli Empire doesn't seem like a stable or safe bet for all those planets," Ace muttered, "then everyone will become skeptical and pull out, all at once. Everything will fall apart. And war will break out, across the galaxy." She thought back to the political situation she'd seen, on Earth, in the 80's. The Cold War. Mutually assured destruction. "No wonder the police are so desperate to stop a rebellion."

* * *

><p><em>Present Day…<em>

Jack, inside Seo's mind, kept watching her memories. As Seo rushed around, inside of Oliver, redirecting her ship back to the Powerhouse Planets.

"The Irkoli Empire was a corporation that expanded too fast," Seo explained. She shoved down a lever. "There wasn't enough energy to power their travel technology, across so many worlds. So they found this!"

Slammed the ship into materialization, so that the sun orbiting the black hole appeared across the windows of her ship.

Circled by those Powerhouse Worlds.

"And set up the Powerhouse Worlds," Seo continued, "to siphon off its power."

Jack could see Prosemo shaking with anger, over the injustice that had been done to his own world.

"I don't care if the Outer Worlds are peaceful," Prosemo insisted. "_We're_ still being oppressed and downtrodden! How do you explain that?"

Seo sighed.

Jack could feel her mind racing, trying to find a way to explain all that she knew.

"The Irkoli Empire began as a corporation," Seo told Prosemo. "Over time, it morphed into a political entity. But it's still got the _mindset_ of a corporation."

Prosemo crossed his arms.

Eyes hard.

"Which means," Seo told him, "that even when they were successful, had access to all the power they could want and had incorporated the entire galaxy into their Empire, they still had two basic problems."

"Being oppressive, stuck-up biggots?" Prosemo guessed.

Seo shook her head. "Poor people who couldn't afford to buy Irkoli's services," she corrected, "and… a lack of cheap labor to harvest the energy they needed to keep the transit systems working."

"So?" said Prosemo.

"So they solved both problems at once," said Seo, dematerializing her ship, and re-materializing back on the planet Trianxyl. In Prosemo's present. "That's why you're all here. Treated the way you are."

"Treated like slaves!" Prosemo shouted. Shoved a finger in her face. "You can't possibly condone that!"

Seo didn't flinch away from him.

"I don't," she told him. Opening the doors to her ship. "In fact, I'm going to make sure I fix it. _Without _plunging this galaxy into war."

* * *

><p><em>1.2 million years ago…<em>

"But how did these Powerhouse Planets get like this?" Ace asked the Doctor.

"The Irkoli Empire was a corporation, expanding," Prosemo explained. "They needed the poor people gone. And they needed cheap labor."

"So they discovered they could solve two problems at once," the Doctor said, taking up the story. "'Send us your poor, your tired, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free… and we'll employ them. A new and better life, on the Powerhouse Worlds.'"

"It's why the Empire runs the Powerhouse Worlds differently than it runs any of the others," said Prosemo. "The Powerhouse Worlds are owned by Irkoli. They were created by Irkoli. Every ounce of air we breathe or food we eat is shipped in by Irkoli. Every pound of rock we walk on was placed by Irkoli. They own us, and there's nothing we can do about it."

"You could fight," said Ace, without thinking.

Then paused.

Her face falling, as she ran through the implications of this, in her mind.

"Except if you did, then the Empire wouldn't have any way to get the power to keep its technology running," said Ace. "The Outer Worlds would pull out of the Irkoli Empire, wars would break out. And everyone would die."

"That's what the Great Warrior said," Prosemo agreed. "But… she said there was a better way."

The Doctor looked away, his voice a deep growl. "I'll bet she did."

"She said the problem… was a lack of understanding of black hole technologies," Prosemo explained. "The Empire did its best, but they didn't really understand what they were doing, when they set up the Powerhouse Worlds. The technology installed here can't cope with the load, itself. That's why the Empire needs people — and works them to death. Because they can't get their automated systems to handle it correctly."

"So she wanted access to the Power Generation Plant," the Doctor guessed.

Prosemo nodded. "And spoke up to the Empire, in our defense. Blackmailed the government officials on the Wolpakst Ship into listening — to her. And to the Forgotten."

"The Speaker for the Forgotten," the Doctor muttered. His eyes guarded. "Yes…"

Ace noticed something was up with him. Grimaced, a little. "Doctor?"

"And the Empire let her in?" the Doctor asked, ignoring Ace. "Where did she go? What systems was she most interested in tweaking?"

Prosemo hesitated.

Didn't answer the Doctor's questions.

"She would have succeeded," Prosemo said, instead. "I was there. I saw what she was doing! But she never finished making her alterations. The Empire…"

He stopped.

Trying to stifle the emotions of pain and grief he still felt.

"She was smart," said Prosemo. "Brilliant, in fact. The Empire saw that. Concocted some rumor about how she'd murdered a group of unknown government officials. The Outer Worlds put pressure on the Empire to make a move against her — and keep the status quo."

"So the Empire invented Stasis Technology," the Doctor concluded. "To trap their greatest enemy."

A look of utter horror sprung up in Prosemo's eyes, as he remembered.

And for a moment, he looked… hopelessly young.

"Stasis technology," Ace repeated. Remembering what she'd learned, during her interrogation. "Except… it's not 'stasis'. It kills."

The Doctor tucked his umbrella under his arm. "Yes —fatal and thoroughly irreversible," he replied. "Once you are in stasis, you can never wake up. I'm surprised you didn't read about its effects in that book of yours."

Ace shifted, uneasily. "Yeah, well… I skipped the boring bits. Got straight to the blowing-things-up bits."

"I was there," Prosemo whispered. "I watched it happen. The Great Warrior just… stopped. Frozen in place, unaware of the world around her. I tried to wake her up. I tried to get her to move again. It… was how they caught me."

The Doctor didn't seem to extend any sympathy towards Prosemo. His face twitched, as if something were on his mind.

Something very unpleasant.

"Professor," said Ace. "Those interrogators said they _wanted_ to revive the Great Warrior. If they were so threatened by her, then why would they want to revive…?"

"Because of her legacy," the Doctor said. "What she left behind."

Prosemo said nothing.

Looked away from the Doctor's hard stare.

"So… she _did_ leave behind something to wipe out the Empire!" Ace cried. "That's why they're all so scared, because there's some bomb or something, poised and ready…"

"Not a bomb," the Doctor said. "Oh, that's what the rebels these days think. But _he _knows the truth." His eyes narrowed on Prosemo. His voice dark. "Don't you, Prosemo?"

Prosemo didn't answer.

"Truth is — no one knows what she did when she altered your Power Generation Plant," said the Doctor. "No one knows how far she got, or what would have happened if she finished. Anyone who knew her plans was shot or killed in the ensuing uprising against the Empire. Everyone… except for you."

Still, no answer from Prosemo.

"You were there," the Doctor accused. "You saw every system she touched. She told you what she was planning. But she didn't finish — which means the systems have become unstable, as a result. And are becoming more unstable, every year. This whole thing could break down at any moment — and only you know how to put it right."

Prosemo remained silent.

Ace remembered what the interrogators had said — that Prosemo's silence was placing everyone's lives in danger.

And realized, suddenly, what they'd meant.

"You mean this whole planet could blow up?!" Ace cried.

"All the Powerhouse Planets could," the Doctor said, stepping back. "At any time."

Which must be why the interrogators were so desperate to revive the Great Warrior. Because they needed someone to complete the work that she'd left half-done.

"But… if they knew her repairs would be unstable, left half-done," Ace said, "then why did they kill the Great Warrior in the first…?"

"Because when they first developed stasis technology, they assumed it could go both ways," the Doctor said, waving the question away, irritated. "They thought they'd just wake up their Great Warrior when they had the upper hand, and force her to undo what she'd done. But they were wrong. They can't ever get her back." He leaned further over his umbrella, voice getting lower and more dangerous. "The only one left who can save these worlds is you — Prosemo."

Prosemo cowered.

"And you've said _nothing_," the Doctor growled.

Ace saw the pain and terror on Prosemo's face. Felt for him. "Professor," Ace insisted, "he watched them kill his friend. Of course he felt upset and bitter, after…"

"And is that any reason," the Doctor shouted, "to put billions of innocent lives at risk?!"

"Doctor—" Ace tried, again.

The Doctor pointed at the sky outside. "One of the most fundamentally unstable points in the universe. Held in the balance by technology that's been half-changed around, turned unstable and volatile itself!"

"They shouldn't have stopped her," Prosemo muttered, a little bitterly. "They should have let her finish. They deserve everything they get."

"Oh, yes — anything to give your Speaker her perfect galaxy," the Doctor said, his voice icy.

Prosemo tried to jump to his feet in outrage, at this. But didn't quite manage it. Had to catch himself on the far wall, to stop himself falling. "That's… unfair," Prosemo protested, leaning heavily against the wall, struggling to catch his breath. "She never treated herself like royalty. She told us—"

"Precisely what you wanted to hear," said the Doctor. "Twisted everyone around her little finger. And I'm sure it was all extremely convincing, wasn't it? You scarcely even knew what you were doing." He advanced on Prosemo, glaring right in the man's face. "But think what your Speaker might have gained from controlling this."

He pointed, once again, at the sky.

"Harnessed correctly, this kind of energy could do almost anything," the Doctor told Prosemo. "And in her hands, it _would_ have. The Speaker for the Forgotten, indeed." He said the title as if it were a bad taste in his mouth.

Ace wasn't sure how to react to this.

Sure, she could understand why the Doctor was angry with Prosemo. Maybe he even deserved it, a little.

But… why attack the Great Warrior? From what Ace had heard… the Great Warrior had been trying to help those on the Powerhouse Planets, without plunging the Outer Worlds into war.

"Doctor, what's the matter with…?" Ace started.

The Doctor ignored her.

"You're very lucky," the Doctor told Prosemo, "that I showed up to fix your little problem." He raised up his sonic screwdriver. "Because I _do_ know how to fix those systems. And unlike the Speaker, I have your best interests at heart." His voice dropped. "Now what building did she go into?"

Prosemo hesitated.

"What building," the Doctor repeated, turning Prosemo's face to look right into his eyes, "did she go into?!"

In a small voice, Prosemo said, "Fifty Four A."

The Doctor straightened. "Thank you," he said. Turned around, marching out the back-door of the office building. "Ace, stay with him. Keep him out of trouble." His voice lowered into a simmering anger. "I'll be back for him when I'm finished."

Then the Doctor left.


	11. Chapter 11

_Pr__esent Day…_

The door to the room containing Seo's memories burst open, and everyone swarmed inside. A group of fictional characters and Seo's mental projections of her friends and family, all racing forwards in a mob, all shouting to destroy the little boy.

Steven gripped Jack's hand a little tighter. Squeaking in terror.

And still didn't say a word.

Jack just had time to catch a glimpse of another memory — Prosemo saying, "What can I do to help, Speaker for the Forgotten?" And Seo turning a stern eye on Prosemo, and replying, "You can start by _never_ calling me that again. I didn't know what it meant when I chose it."

Then the little boy tugged Jack along behind, as he raced through Seo's mind. Down the darkest tunnels and deepest sections, running as fast as he could from the mob that wanted to destroy him.

Something spread from him, as he passed.

Something intangible. Almost invisible. But Jack could feel it was there. Jack could feel the change.

Jack looked down at the little boy dragging him along. Little Steven.

Polluting the inner reaches of Seo's mind.

"Please don't make me have to kill him, again," Jack said. "Please. Please!"

* * *

><p><em>1.2 million years ago…<em>

"I'm sorry about the Professor," said Ace, helping the old man to sit more comfortably. "He's got the best intentions, really. But sometimes, when he's thinking of the whole universe and the good of everything, he forgets… that he's dealing with people. Who get angry and upset and have real feelings."

Prosemo didn't answer her.

He looked sad and lost.

"You were really upset when the Empire killed your friend, huh?" Ace guessed. "That's why you didn't tell them anything."

"She said she _needed _to make sure her plan succeeded," said Prosemo. "Just to prove she could. To make everyone believe that she…"

He trailed off.

His voice cracked and hollow.

"The Empire took me to see her," Prosemo whispered. "To make me talk. She looks… just like I remember. So alive. But she's dead, in there. Dead forever."

"And you wanted to make them suffer for it," Ace muttered. Sighed. "Yeah. Know the feeling."

Remembering all those times when she'd fought with her mum. And wound up doing something stupid, just because she was angry and bitter.

"For a second, I thought… the Doctor understood," said Prosemo. "But he was like all the others. He… didn't…"

Prosemo drifted off.

His eyes far away and sad.

"What does it mean, in your culture?" said Prosemo. Leaning over, trying to sort through his thoughts. "'The Speaker for the Forgotten'. He reacted to the name. She reacted, too, when she learned our language better. As if it meant something… more."

Ace had absolutely no idea.

It sounded fine to her.

"She came up with the name 'Great Warrior', instead," said Prosemo. "Her mother was a great warrior, too, before she died. The Great Warrior… said it was her place to assume the name. Assume its responsibilities." Prosemo paused. Then, with a chuckle, added, "She had such an odd term for it, in her own language. Something like… Slamm… no, Slayree…"

"Slayer?" said Ace.

That sounded a bit more violent than Great Warrior.

Prosemo seemed surprised. "You speak her language?" he said. Then, examining Ace more carefully, added, "Are you using a galactic translator?"

"I'm… using something to translate, yeah," Ace replied.

"But your friend… the Doctor… isn't?"

Ace had no idea how the Doctor's mind worked. Sometimes, she thought he was completely reliant on the TARDIS. Other times, she thought he just spoke every language in the known universe, and the TARDIS was getting it from him.

"Then you don't know about the double meaning," said Prosemo. "She didn't, either. She told us that if she had, she'd never have called herself… our Speaker."

Ace didn't get it. "Double… meaning?"

"A pun," said Prosemo. "When you say it fast." He pronounced an alien-sounding string of words. And then said it a little faster, emphasizing the different syllables. They sounded nearly identical.

Except this time, the meaning flashed through Ace's mind seconds after the words had been said.

The TARDIS allowing Ace time to understand the double-meaning inherent in the language.

The first translated to Speaker for the Forgotten, or Speaker for the People.

The second…

"The Master of the People," Ace realized.

The two words — for Speaker and Master — sounded almost identical.

Ace felt a shudder run through her. As she, all of a sudden, completely understood why the Doctor had blown up at Prosemo for trusting someone called 'the Master' to tamper with a highly unstable, extremely powerful point in the universe. Understood why the Doctor felt he'd needed to come here and stop the Great Warrior.

And understood why the Doctor had been so certain that the alterations the Great Warrior made to the machinery… were dangerous.

"You'll be all right, here, yeah?" Ace checked. Looking around herself, as she stumbled backwards. "I have to go. The Professor… he…"

"I was right — those words, 'the Master', they mean something," Prosemo cut in. "Please. What do they mean? Why is it so important?"

"The Master is one of the Doctor's greatest enemies," Ace said, spinning around, and running off. "And if the Master's behind all this… then everything you were told was a lie. The Master isn't dead or in stasis or powerless. It's a trap, and the Professor's in danger. He needs me!"

She didn't look back at Prosemo.

As she ran to the Power Generation Plant.

* * *

><p>Ace found the Doctor hunched over a bank of machinery. His face bent into a deep frown, as he stared at what had been done.<p>

"You knew!" Ace accused.

The Doctor only flicked his eyes to Ace for a fraction of a second. Before returning them to his work.

"You knew it was the Master," said Ace. "You didn't tell me. You made me think the Great Warrior was someone like _me_, someone I could relate to. And she was actually just…!"

Ace couldn't even get out the words.

"Time Lords change bodies all the time," the Doctor muttered. "And the Master was desperate to remove that cheetah virus. I couldn't discount the possibility he'd found a new… host."

"You used me!" Ace shouted.

The Doctor picked up the machinery, thoughtfully. "Possibly," he said. Ducked down, looking beneath it. "Or… possibly not." He paused. "Curious. Very curious."

Ace wasn't sure she could deal with this, right now.

"You can't just keep treating me like I'm some… puppet!" Ace continued. "You can't just keep leading me into these situations without telling me what's really going on. If this is the Master, he'd have planned the stasis ray! He'd have gone into suspended animation for a reason. He must have some way to revive himself, just in case you turned up! Or… or… made sure this whole Power Generation Plant set-up would kill you, if you tried to tamper with it!"

"It's not him," the Doctor muttered.

"And what if _I'd_ stumbled into the trap instead?!" Ace continued to yell. "I was on that cheetah planet, too, remember? He's not just after you, Doctor, he's also after me! And…"

Ace trailed off.

As the Doctor's words finally registered.

"What do you mean, it's not him?" Ace said.

The Doctor emerged from the machinery. Studying it, again. "Fascinating," he said. "I assumed… well, naturally, someone with a time machine, playing around with black hole technology — had to be one of my own people. But… this…" He gestured at it. "It'd be like stumbling onto one of Omega's early experiments. Seeing someone as they tried to work everything out from the basics, put the pieces together by themselves. And applying their guesses so they could create a system… that would work."

"I don't…" Ace's mind spun. "What are you going on about?"

"Somehow, Prosemo was right," said the Doctor. He took out his sonic screwdriver, and began to buzz at the machinery. "The Great Warrior was not malicious. If she'd finished her work, she'd have helped every single person in this galaxy." He thought it over. "I wonder what she hoped to gain from it."

"This… this could still be a trap!" Ace insisted. "The Master could be tricking you into thinking—"

"The Master would have known enough not to make so many silly mistakes," the Doctor cut in. He raised up one of the sections of machinery. "Take this, for example. Two of these transducers are installed upside down. A mistake. The Great Warrior never caught it, but when she saw the machine wasn't working right, she constructed a workaround solution — a power loop that circumvents the transducers, using the external feed."

It was all just technobabble to Ace.

"An elegant solution," the Doctor conceded. Turning back to his work. "But a mistake the Master would never have made in the first place."

Ace felt a bit of hope swell up inside her, again.

As she realized… her hero might still be a hero, after all!

"And that's just one example," the Doctor continued. He gestured at the machinery around them. "This whole thing is littered with patched-up mistakes and brilliant strokes of improvisation. Whoever made this couldn't have been the Master. Couldn't have even been a Time Lord. Or she'd have learned to avoid these sorts of mistakes back on Gallifrey."

"So… the Great Warrior," said Ace, "really _wasn't_ a villain? She's just a running, fighting, blowing-things-up role model for young girls everywhere?"

"I don't know," said the Doctor. He scratched his head, staring down at the machinery. "But I can't leave the modifications half-done, the way they are now. I'm either going to have to undo her changes, or finish them." He adjusted the settings on his sonic screwdriver. "And if the changes will help… then I might as well finish them for her!"

He'd only just managed to make the necessary changes to stabilize the systems… when the intruder alarms finally sounded.

The Doctor looked up. "Ah," he said, as police began to teleport outside the Power Generation Plant. "Time to run, Ace."

"Back to the TARDIS?" Ace asked.

The Doctor put away his sonic screwdriver, and bolted for the back-door. "No, to Prosemo!" he cried. "Time to put into place my final master plan — to liberate the Powerhouse Planets for good."

* * *

><p>After they'd finally accomplished the Doctor's plan, freed the oppressed and convinced the local police to help the people of the Powerhouse Planets in their liberation, the Doctor and Ace returned to the TARDIS.<p>

The Doctor looking very pleased with himself.

"Mission accomplished," he said, stroking the central console, fondly. "The Irkoli Empire fixed, its people free — and no complications." He clapped his hands together, rubbing them with excitement. "Now. Where to, next?"

Ace stared at him.

Jaw open.

"We can't leave!" Ace cried. Grabbed his arm. "What about the Great Warrior?"

The Doctor sighed. "She's dead, Ace," he replied. "Or might as well be." He moved his ship into flight. "The Irkoli Empire created stasis technology so remarkable, it could last for millions of years. But it only works one way. Once you enter stasis, you can never — ever — leave."

"So she's trapped like that?" said Ace. "A living statue, forever?"

"Forever, until her brain atrophies, and she dies," the Doctor confirmed. "There's no way back."

Ace couldn't believe it.

Wouldn't.

"But _you_ can get her out!" Ace demanded. "You're… you're… the Professor! You're a Time Lord! You can stabilize suns that circle black holes and outsmart hell gods like Fenric and… and… everything! You have to know a way to—"

"Ace," the Doctor sighed. "There's nothing I can do."

"Yes, there is!" Ace shouted. "There has to be! You've got to at least _try_!"

The Doctor looked back at Ace. Confused.

"You never knew the Great Warrior," the Doctor commented. He gestured at the book. "Everything else you read in that book of yours was wrong. Why is this so important to you?"

"Because…" Ace struggled to find the right words. To put all of her thoughts into something that made sense! "Because… she fights back. She likes explosives. She stands up for injustice. And… from what Prosemo was saying, it sounds like she was there on Irkoli because… she had something to prove."

The Doctor frowned.

Until he worked it out.

"You want to save her," said the Doctor, "because she reminds you of yourself."

Ace didn't dare answer this.

Couldn't.

The Doctor sighed. Then reset the coordinates. "Well, if it means that much to you," he said, "I'll go to the Wolpakst Ship. Take a look at the stasis technology. And see what I can do."

Ace felt a smile tug at her lips.

As the TARDIS materialized.


	12. Chapter 12

_The __Present Day…_

Dawn wanted to throw up, as Ace told her story.

She couldn't move. Couldn't speak. Didn't know what to think.

"It can't really be her," Dawn insisted. "My niece can't be… be…!"

Ace said nothing.

"You got it wrong!" Dawn insisted. "The Great Warrior couldn't have been Seo! Not _my_ Seo! It must be from her future, when…!"

"I'm sorry," said Ace. "It's where she went, just after Elizabeth and the Knights of Byzantium. She called herself the Great Warrior… in memory of your sister."

"You're wrong!"

"I'm not," Ace muttered. Then, looking even glummer, added, "She recognized me, on the Wolpakst Ship. Even asked me how you were."

Which meant… Ace had met Seo in person. That must mean Ace had gone back in time and stopped Seo doing something stupid.

"So you and the Doctor rescued her, right?" Dawn said.

Ace looked out the window.

Not sure how to answer.

"Please," Dawn begged. "Please… no! Please! She can't be a statue! She can't…!"

All those future Seos Dawn had seen. Everything future-Seo had done.

Wiped out in an instant.

Just because Seo had chosen the wrong Buffy. And Dawn had been too angry to forgive her.

"I'm sorry," Ace said.

Dawn shuddered back into the booth of the restaurant.

"Dead," Dawn whispered to herself. "My whole family. They're all dead!"

* * *

><p>Jack tried to stop Steven, next time he did it.<p>

Next time Jack felt that tug of life energy from inside of him, pouring through the little boy, and the rush of golden droplets spilling from his hand.

"No!" Jack cried out.

As everyone wavered and fell, yet again. The stone walls of the room they'd been trapped in split apart to allow them access through the castle of Seo's mind.

Jack spun the boy around, eyes blazing. "I don't know what's going on," he hissed, "but I'm not letting you get away with this just because you're wearing that face and that body!" He leaned down. "Whatever you're using me to do to Seo — stop, now. Or I'll kill you."

Steven looked confused.

Then opened his mouth, and the incomprehensible sounds spilled out, again.

But Jack was over that.

"You're the stasis field," Jack accused. "Aren't you? Seo's spent a million years keeping you out, so you didn't poison her. And now — I've let you in here, to kill her." He leaned down. "But I've failed too many people, lately. And I'll see you rot in hell before I fail Seo, too."

Steven blinked at him.

Then let go of Jack's hand, and backed away. Looking terrified.

"Oh no you don't!" shouted Jack, lunging for the child and grabbing it up by the arm. It squirmed and writhed, frantically trying to escape, but Jack wouldn't let it go. "Even if you're not hanging onto me, you're still using me to get what you want. You'll keep draining my energy and using it to blast your way through Seo's mind."

Steven gave a sharp, frantic whine.

Jack tightened his grip. Trying to will himself to go through with this. To actually… actually kill… a second time…

"You're not Steven!" Jack shouted. Mostly at himself. "Steven wasn't evil. He was innocent. _You're_ using me to tear Seo apart!"

Steven stopped struggling.

His face suddenly lighting up with realization.

Then his eyes glowed golden, and energy spiraled out from his fingertips. Jack, instinctively, backed away, as the child rose up, floating through the air…

And a rush of energy was jerked back through Jack.

He gasped.

His eyes bulging wide.

The little boy settled himself back down again. Looking at Jack, hopefully. Expectantly. As if wanting… approval.

"What the hell did you just do?!" Jack screamed.

Was he in stasis now, too? Was this something that could spread like a virus? Had he just doomed the world?

Steven opened his mouth, again, and the sounds came flying out. Sounds… that made Jack think of longing and need and guilt and urgency. Made him feel like crying and clawing his way to a goal in utter desperation.

Sounds… that felt almost like… music.

Sounds… that were… familiar.

Steven smiled at Jack. Reaching out a hand.

And all of a sudden, it struck Jack exactly what was going on here. Who this little boy was. And why the boy was so eager to get inside Seo's mind.

"1.2 million years," Jack breathed. "You grew up."

* * *

><p><em>1.2 million years ago…<em>

The TARDIS materialized in a forgotten alcove of the Wolpakst Ship. Ace jumped out, ready for anything… but was greeted only by the hollow echo of her footsteps.

The ship felt… empty.

Lifeless.

"Hello?" said Ace.

No answer.

Not even the whirr of a camera following her movements.

"Strangely deserted," the Doctor confirmed, stepping out behind her. He locked the TARDIS door. "Considering it's the center of government for the Empire." He glanced at Ace. "Perhaps you were right to come back after all."

Ace shuddered. "This feels creepy, Professor," she said, rubbing her arms.

"Yes," said the Doctor, following her. "Something's very wrong here."

He thought a long moment.

Then turned to her. "Which means," he said, "we'd better investigate."

"Split up, snoop around, then meet up again when we both get arrested and thrown in jail?" Ace proposed.

The Doctor grinned at her.

And Ace shot him a thumbs up.

Then turned on her heels, and ran off.

"But be careful, Ace!" the Doctor called after her. He looked around himself. Muttered, "I don't know how dangerous this might turn out to be."

He turned, to be off on his way… but discovered a young man, no older than fifteen, huddled in the corner. The man's eyes were red and bloodshot, and he looked as if he'd been crying.

"Why hello," the Doctor said. "Where did you come from?"

The young man sprung to his feet. "I… wasn't…!"

The voice was familiar.

And… the more the Doctor looked… the more he realized that the young man himself was familiar. As if the Doctor had seen this man just recently…

Ah.

So that's who this was.

"I'm just… looking for my friend," said the young man. "They brought her here and took her away. She seemed to think it would be all right, but… I… I think they did something to her."

The Doctor nodded, sagely. "I'm very sorry, Prosemo."

The young man froze. "You know my name?"

"Why yes," the Doctor chuckled. "Seems I do." He analyzed the young man, carefully. "This friend of yours. You must care for her very much." He leaned on his umbrella. "Who is she?"

"She's beautiful," said Prosemo. "And—" He stopped. Then started backing away. "You're one of them, aren't you? One of the people who took her away!"

"What? No, I'm—!"

"I won't tell you anything!" Prosemo shouted, turning and running away. "I'll never betray her! I love her! I—"

Then he faded out, as if he'd never been there at all.

A temporal anomaly. A blast from the past, invading the present.

That was a bad sign if ever the Doctor saw one. Seemed like this ship was more dangerous than he'd imagined.

"And it turns out, the feeling that drove Prosemo to keep quiet and nearly murder every last person on the Powerhouse Planets," said the Doctor, "wasn't hypnosis. Just an adolescent, obsessive love."

What a reason to doom worlds!

He wondered, with a little bit of sadness, if the feeling had been mutual. Or if Prosemo had fancied someone who'd thought of him as a friend, and nothing more.

"Sad," the Doctor said. "But we all go through it at some point." Chuckling, as he lifted his closed umbrella over his shoulder. "Should have seen me at a hundred and three."

He pressed onwards.

Not sure where he was going, just following that pervading feeling inside his senses, telling him that things had shifted, here. Fundamentally shifted. And the feeling kept getting stronger.

Stronger and stronger, with every step.

He only realized, when he arrived at the Stasis Chamber Room, exactly where he'd been heading.

"To the section of the ship graced by the living statue of the Great Warrior herself," the Doctor muttered. "And the home of one of the most abhorrent weapons ever devised. 'Stasis technology', they called it."

A stasis that never let you wake up.

The Doctor held his hand up to the door panel, and it slid aside. "Well. Let's see who you really are — Great Warrior."

The room was large.

Looming metallic walls all around him. And nothing else. The room strangely empty.

The door slid shut behind him, locking mechanisms engaging automatically. The Doctor didn't mind. Nothing he couldn't undo with a buzz of the sonic screwdriver. He looked around himself. The Stasis Technology must be built into the walls, he thought. It was so discreet, one might never have seen it at all.

He imagined that would be the point, for anyone brought here. Keep them unawares, until it was too late to stop the process.

In an instant, a spotlight flashed on — just in front of the Doctor. Illuminating a plinth at the other end of the room.

The Doctor squinted through the sudden light. Shielding his eyes.

"The plinth of the Great Warrior, herself, I assume," the Doctor muttered. Waiting for his eyes to adjust, to see what was in the spotlight. "Now. Just who, exactly, are…?"

The Doctor paused.

Because the plinth… was empty.

"The Speaker for the Forgotten," came a voice from the shadows, "usurped by the Speaker of the Empire."

It was a voice the Doctor recognized.

As he spun around.

And knew the identity of the man awaiting him.

"Master," the Doctor said.


	13. Chapter 13

Ace heard something.

Like the sound of someone running through the halls, just in front of her.

"Hello?" Ace called out.

The sound stopped.

Then began again, more in earnest, more clearly recognizable as footsteps. Ace followed, racing onwards, fast as she could. The footsteps sounded panicked. Terrified. She thought she could hear the gasp of frantic breathing.

She was so intent on following it… she didn't even notice as she rounded a corner.

And wound up right smack in the middle of a group of Empire guards. Who immediately identified her as an intruder, and raised up their guns.

Ace sighed.

"Second time today," she muttered, as she was led off at gunpoint. "Least I found some people still alive, up here."

But that was all she found.

As they led her towards a cell, she tried to ask them what had happened, but they didn't answer. Their eyes were glazed. Their movements precise, but almost subconscious. Like they were in a trance.

"And still no sign of anyone from the government on this government-ship," Ace said. "That seem right to any of you guards?"

The guards didn't answer.

Just kept poking her with their guns, and leading her to the brig.

Ace shrugged. Looked like she'd have something to tell the Professor, when she met up with him, in the brig. Zombie-guards!

The guards threw her inside an empty cell, then locked the door. The cell was small, dark, covered in shadows and… something else. Something weird that made Ace shudder, even though she didn't know why.

"You!"

Ace jumped.

Spun around.

And discovered herself face-to-face with a petite blond girl with freckles dotting the bridge of her nose, and large brown eyes.

"What are you doing here?" said the girl. "Is Dawn with you?"

Ace had absolutely no idea what the girl was. Or who 'Dawn' was. Or why this girl seemed to recognize Ace.

Ace had thought the cell was empty!

"You must be getting me mixed up with someone else," said Ace. She extended a hand. "I'm Ace."

The girl frowned. Looking Ace over, curiously. "Yes, you're younger than last time I saw you," said the girl. "I must be caught up in another causal loop. I always seem to wind up in those." She beamed, grabbed Ace's hand and shook it. "I'm Seo!"

Ace felt another shudder run through her, as Seo shook the hand.

Like something was fundamentally wrong with the situation, and she couldn't put her finger on what, or how.

Seo felt it, too. Yanked back her hand, examining it. "That's not right," she said. "Like… something's poking holes in the universe." She jumped up to her feet, tracing her finger through the air, as if carving complex geometrical symbols into it. "Except that shouldn't happen. Not at all!"

"Holes in the universe?" Ace checked.

This sounded like one of the things she should get the Professor to solve.

"Yes, probably using the unstable point in the center of the galaxy, with the black hole," Seo replied. "It's as if someone's exploited all the vulnerabilities of that spot, and amplified its instability."

"But… I thought the alterations were supposed to _help_…"

"Mine will," Seo replied, grinning. "When I make them. See, the Irkoli Empire isn't really evil — despite what the history books say. But it has been doing some evil things to the people generating power. This whole thing is massively unstable — on several dimensional levels. Enough dimensional levels that I don't think the engineers who installed the systems quite understood what they were doing. So I have to plan it out perfectly, or my modifications could…. Are you all right?"

Seo was looking at Ace, curiously.

As Ace felt herself suddenly growing very cold. And this time… it wasn't just due to the massive temporal anomaly.

"You," Ace realized. "You're…"

"I blasted my way into one of the Power Generation Plants," Seo explained. Her eyes lighting up with the memory of her opportune use of high-grade explosives. Then darkening, again, at the memory of what she found, in there. "The systems are dangerous. There are places in the Powerhouse Factories where the systems are funneling high levels of radiation, but the engineers constructing the thing couldn't work out how to automate the process. So the Empire sends people in there, instead. Workers. Their life expectancy is about a year. Maybe less."

"You're…!" Ace started.

"I've fixed what I can," said Seo. "But I can't just fix everything behind people's backs! The people on the Powerhouse Worlds have to feel like they're being heard, or they'll rise up against the Irkoli Empire, anyways. I don't just have to fix the Power Generation Plants — I have to make these people happy. Restore peace to the Empire!"

"You're the Great Warrior!" Ace cried.

"Yes!" Seo agreed. "And you're Ace! I know! That's not the point!" She gestured at the two of them. "Whatever's poking holes in the universe, right now — I have to fix it. Then fix the Empire itself, so…!"

Seo paused.

Then, with a half-smile, asked, "Wait, have you read about me? In a history book?"

Ace wasn't sure how to answer this.

"You did!" Seo cried. She clapped her hands in delight. "Oh, that's brilliant! I'll make it into history books. That means they'll know how I'm following in Mom's footsteps. It means…" Her glee fell a little bit. "…_he'll_ know. And I need him to know."

"Who?" said Ace.

"The Doctor," said Seo. She gestured around herself. "Why do you think I'm here? No — wait, don't answer that. You'll find out after you meet Dawn. But I've made some terrible mistakes, Ace — I failed someone I loved, and… I have to make a difference. I have to prove I can do good."

Ace could see it shining through her.

That utter need to prove herself. That same exact need that Ace felt every single day of her life. The need to prove yourself to the world and the universe around you.

"Dawn will never forgive me," Seo said, looking down at the ground. "But… maybe, if I make him proud enough… _he_ will."

"The Doctor?" said Ace.

Seo didn't have a chance to answer…

Before a ripple shuddered through the air.

"What was that?" said Ace.

Seo wrinkled her nose. "Not sure." She sniffed the air. Then stuck out her tongue, as if to test for something. "Tastes a bit like—"

She never finished.

As she faded from sight, and vanished into the darkness, once more.

The coldness in the air faded, and Ace realized that whatever had poked that hole in the universe had stopped. Ended.

Ace sat down, in the cell. Back against the wall.

Thinking through everything that had just happened.

"The Great Warrior, alive," Ace muttered to herself. "Before she made her alterations. That means… I was seeing an echo of the past. Shoved into the future."

Despite herself, Ace felt a rising excitement.

"And it means… I met her!" Ace shouted. Punching the air. "I met the Great Warrior! And she _wasn't_ the Master! Yes!"

* * *

><p><em>The<em>_ Present Day…_

"She… thought I'd never forgive her?" Dawn asked.

"That's what she said," Ace replied. "Sorry."

Dawn felt her head spinning.

Wanting to take it all back.

"This is all my fault," Dawn said. "I agreed to let her get Buffy. I helped bring Elizabeth back here. And when I found out what Seo had done, I made her so desperate for approval that she—"

"No," Ace interrupted, thudding her fist against the table. Pointed at Dawn. "It's Elizabeth's fault. Not yours. Not Seo's. Not the Professor's. Just Elizabeth's. And we're going to get her for it."

Dawn felt her mouth go dry.

As she nodded.

"So what… happened next?" Dawn asked.


	14. Chapter 14

_1.2 __million years ago…_

"Surprised to see me?" the Master asked, circling his prey. His eyes hungry, like a feral cat.

"Surprised? No, not really." The Doctor gave a mock-yawn. "Sun orbiting a black hole on a dimensional instability. Gigantic power stations set up around it. It was only a matter of time before you showed up."

"I could say the same of you, my dear Doctor," said the Master. He glanced back at the spotlight, illuminating only empty space. "When I heard a champion had presented himself as a benevolent savior to the people of this Empire, I naturally assumed it was you. Imagine my surprise… when I arrived. Found the living statue. And realized… it was someone else."

"It seems we both were fooled," the Doctor said.

"Driven like moths to a flame," said the Master.

The Doctor's face bent into curiosity. Gestured to the plinth. "Who was she?"

"No one important," the Master replied. "Not even a Time Lord. I could tell." His eyes drifted to the empty plinth. "They'd been keeping her around as a trophy, but I felt… your living death would make a far more fitting trophy."

"You're too kind," said the Doctor, with mock-lightness. Then, his voice lowering, a bit, added, "What did you do with her body?"

"Threw it into space," the Master replied. "Not sure where. Why? Was she a friend of yours, Doctor?" He gave a feral grin. "Forgive me. I didn't even give her a second glance, before I tossed her out like the rubbish she was."

The Doctor leaned against his umbrella. "So you gave up the Great Warrior to play a game of cat and mouse with me." Then, with a wider grin, added, "Oops, sorry — I forgot. Cats are still a bit of a sore subject with you, aren't they?"

"For the moment," the Master replied, his eyes flashing yellow. "But not, I hope, for much longer. You fixed the machinery in the Power Generation Plant, didn't you, Doctor? Finished her work. I knew you wouldn't be able to resist."

The Doctor felt a chill run through him.

Glared at his old enemy.

"What have you done?" the Doctor demanded.

"Yes, the Empire was desperate for my help," the Master mused. "They couldn't understand what the Great Warrior had done to their systems, or how to undo her changes. So I offered them my generous… assistance."

"You saw what she did," the Doctor reasoned. "Tweaked and altered it to suit your own twisted ends. Then made sure your plan would activate the moment I completed her alterations and stabilized them."

The Master clapped, slowly.

The Doctor felt himself seething. "Do you have any idea of the risks?" he shouted. "Whatever you're here for, whatever twisted game you're trying to play, I won't let you do it! Already, you've begun ripping holes in the fabric of space-time, all across this ship! I can't—"

"I think that's been enough time," the Master cut in. "Interesting thing about this so-called 'stasis technology', Doctor. It convinces you that you're still moving, still conversing. Even when the stasis has already struck, and stopped you in place. You only notice you haven't moved the moment it's too late. And the trap snaps shut."

The Doctor looked around himself.

Suddenly realizing… that he hadn't moved for the past thirty seconds.

Hadn't even opened his mouth to speak.

The stasis technology in the walls was humming. It was already active.

The Master chuckled. Turning away. "Goodbye, Doctor."

"No, wait!" the Doctor tried to shout.

But that was when the trap swung shut.

And nothing happened after that.

For a long time.

* * *

><p>The Master left the Stasis Chamber room, waving his hands at a number of guards he'd hypnotized, earlier. "Place the Doctor into the spotlight," he instructed. "A fitting end for one of my more amusing adversaries, I think."<p>

The guards nodded.

Then ran off, to do as the Master said.

The Master, meanwhile, retreated into the control room of the ship. Admiring the display of small, doll-sized figures of the crew, scattered across the floor. And the ones he'd put on display, on a nearby book shelf — every government official in the Empire. All dead, by his hand.

He smiled, looking out through the windshield at the sun that orbited the black hole.

And the dimensional fissure opening up, just behind it.

"Only a matter of time, now," the Master said. Looking down at himself. The body he'd stolen from Traken, then claimed as his own. Now infected and contaminated with the cheetah virus.

But he'd fix that.

"Energy enough to make me immortal," the Master decreed. "And to roll back time on this body, restore it to a point before cheetah virus. And afterwards…" The Master stroked his chin, thoughtfully. "An entire galaxy in my hands. Just what can I do with that, I wonder?"

A shocked gasp sounded just behind him.

The Master spun around. But no one was there.

"Hello?" The Master crept around the room. His every step soft, stealthy, a cat sneaking up on its prey. His ears, sensitive to any little noise, picked up on the sound of breath from nearby. His nose picked up a faint scent. "I know you're here. You cannot hide forever."

He rounded the corner.

Then pounced.

And landed on only empty air. As the sound and smell faded from existence.

The Master peeled himself up off the floor. Annoyed. "Holes in time and space." His eyes scanned the room. "No matter. They can't possibly… stop…"

The Master trailed off.

Frowned.

Every single one of the tissue-compressed government officials… had disappeared.


	15. Chapter 15

Ace cried out in triumph as she escaped from the prison cell.

"Time to find the Professor," Ace decided, racing down the hall as fast as she can. "Let him know what's going on. He'll be able to sort it for sure! Then we can rescue the Great Warrior, and everything will be ace!"

Where to find the Doctor?

Three guesses.

"Stasis Chamber," said Ace, racing down the path the Doctor had taken, before. "Probably disassembling it. He hates weapons like that."

She grinned, as she noticed the Stasis Room door, labeled and all. Slid open the door to step inside.

But froze, in the doorway.

Her mouth dropping open, in horror.

"No," said Ace.

She rushed over, grabbing at the Doctor. He seemed calm, composed, leaning on his umbrella as if caught in the midst of conversation. His eyes engaged, but reserved and angry, his hat still propped neatly on his head.

He was completely still.

A statue.

Not even his clothing moved, beneath her hands.

"Professor!" Ace shouted. Trying to shake him. "Doctor! Wake up!"

He didn't move.

Didn't hear her.

Ace screamed. Suddenly frantic, suddenly desperate. Hearing the words over and over again, inside her head.

_Once you enter stasis, you can never — ever — leave_.

"No," said Ace. "He isn't dead. He can't be!" She tried to fight back tears, as nothing she did provoked any reaction. Or moved him at all. As if he really had been turned to stone. "Professor! I know you're still in there! Wake up!" She slammed her hands down on his chest. "Wake up!"

Then the entire ship shook.

And a shriek of metal grating against metal rose up, seemingly from everywhere in the ship at once.

"Professor!" Ace shouted, as the metal began to groan and give way around her.

She only just had time to dart out of the way, as one of the metal panels from the ceiling, hiding the complex stasis machinery embedded therein, fell across the Doctor's stiff form and the place where she'd just been standing. Knocking him back, as more panels fell across him.

"Professor!" shouted Ace.

The ship shook again, and now all the metal panels from the ceiling were threatening to come down. Ace hesitated, not sure what to do or where to turn…

A hand caught hers, yanked her away and out of the room just before the whole ceiling collapsed.

It was the blond girl, again.

"This isn't right," Seo was saying. "Not right at all. I've gone over the plans in my head, since we last talked. In infinitesimal detail. What I'm planning can't possibly do this! I'm not even _touching_ those systems. If two disparate points in time have split open — it's because someone _else_ split them open. Behind my back."

Ace couldn't speak.

She was desperately trying to think of some way to get the Doctor back.

"But who would do that?" Seo continued. "Nobody wants a disaster like this to happen! I snuck onto the bridge, and another time pocket formed. There was a man there I didn't recognize, with glowing yellow eyes. And…" She reached into her pocket, and brought out a small doll-like figure. "…a whole set of these. In Empire Government attire." Glanced up at Ace. "What is it? A voodoo doll?"

The sight made Ace want to throw up.

She knew exactly who had done it.

"It's the Master," Ace said.

Seo jumped at the name. "What? He's here?!"

One look at her face told Ace that Seo had met the Master before. And the Master had been just as twisted and miserable a git around her as he ever was.

"But why the dolls?" Seo asked. Raising the doll in her hand up, to show Ace. "What could he possibly be planning to do with…?"

"It's not a doll," said Ace. "He's got a tissue compression eliminator. It kills people by shrinking them down to doll size. You're holding… their corpses."

Seo froze.

Looking horrified.

"He had tons of these, with him," Seo muttered. Staring down at the poor doll in her hands. "Wearing… crew uniforms. Government uniforms. Cafeteria worker uniforms…"

"It must be what happened to everyone else on this ship," Ace agreed. "This place felt abandoned when we got here. The Master must have come, killed everyone, then lured the Doctor into a trap. And now… the Professor's…!"

Ace couldn't say it.

Could barely control her emotions, every time she spoke of it. Every time she thought of the Doctor… frozen… forever.

Seo gently closed the doll's eyes, lying it down with its arms crossed around its chest, bowing her head in respect. "I'll give them a proper burial."

Another shriek of metal grating against metal, searing across the ship.

Seo grabbed up Ace's hand, her eyes wide and frightened. Dragged her off to the nearest spot with windows.

They both watched.

As the dimensional rift opened, behind the black hole. Making the black hole shift, swell, and alter. The sun glowing more brightly and changing color, as it zipped around the black hole faster and faster, spiraling down into its depths.

Then a bright flash that made them all have to duck and shield their eyes.

As a wave-ripple of energy was hurtled from the center of the black hole, spewing into the galaxy around it, destabilizing the Powerhouse Planets.

They wavered in their orbits.

Then began to tip, steadily, one by one, towards the black hole.

"No!" Seo cried. Pounding her fist against the glass, angrily. As the planets passed the event horizon, stretching and bending and breaking apart. "All those people! Everything I fought for! This can't be how it ends. It just can't!"

"Then stop it!" Ace shouted.

Seo turned to her. Confused.

"You're speaking to me from 200 years in the past!" Ace said. "You can still change things back then. And if you know the Master… you can figure out what he's going to do to your work, in the future. Figure out how to avoid all of this!"

Seo hesitated. "But… the Master's cleverer than me," she whispered. "I can't…!"

"Please!" Ace begged. "What's happened to the Doctor — he said there's no way to undo it. You have to go back and make sure none of this ever happened! It's the only way."

She felt a lump rising in her throat.

As she thought about the Doctor. Stuck forever in a living death.

"Save the Doctor," Ace begged. "Please!"

Seo dropped Ace's hand. Planting an officious look on her face.

And nodded.

"You're right," Seo decided. She spun around. "I won't let myself go down in history as the person who destroyed the Empire and killed everyone. I have to save them. I'm _going_ to save them."

She began to rush back the way she'd come, but… stopped.

Glanced back over her shoulder, at Ace.

"Just promise one thing," said Seo. She gave Ace a gentle smile. "In your own future — after you save Dawn from the Knights of Byzantium — you're going to meet me, again. I won't know who you are. When I leave you… this is where I'll be headed."

Ace frowned.

"Tell Dawn what I did," said Seo. "Then find the Doctor — and tell him what I did. The whole truth. Everything I wanted to do for the people of Irkoli, and everything I tried to put right. That way, even if the history books depict me as some kind of monster — the important people will still know."

"The important people," Ace echoed.

"I did this all for them," Seo said. Her smile growing sadder. "And for Mom. Make sure they know that."

She turned back. Then raced into a sprint.

"Goodbye, Ace!" Seo called, after herself. "See you in your future!"

And disappeared back into the past.


	16. Chapter 16

_Th__e Present Day…_

"I promised I'd tell you," said Ace. "So… I'm telling you."

Dawn could barely breathe.

"You… you met her before she got stasis-ified!" Dawn shouted. "You should have warned her…!"

"Time doesn't work like that," Ace cut in. Folded her arms against the table. "I was young and stupid enough to think it did. But the Great Warrior couldn't bring back those planets — any more than I could make sure she wasn't trapped in stasis. We could only change what happened _after_ that point when we'd spoken."

Dawn didn't get it.

But she was in way too much of an emotional hurricane to try.

"It was only after she left that I started figuring it out," said Ace. "Where this history books got all this stuff from. The black holes — that was obviously because of the Master. But… the books also said the Empire used voodoo dolls to control people, right?"

Dawn frowned.

Then realized… "The miniaturized corpses of the crew and government officials, from the future," said Dawn. "The ones the Master killed! Seo brought them back through time to give them a proper burial."

"And the Empire must have found them on her," Ace agreed. "Not known who they were — just that they were dead and wearing Empire uniforms. They spread the rumor that she'd killed government officials, as a result of that."

"Oh, God…" Dawn muttered.

"And in the history books," said Ace, "the significance of the dolls to Seo's fate was lost. Turned into another slam against the Empire."

Dawn didn't know how much more of this she could take.

Hearing about… Seo…

"She wanted you to be proud of her, Dawn," Ace put in. "You should be. She proved herself a hero."

"Where… where is she?" Dawn asked. "The Master said he threw her out into space…"

"The Doctor and I looked for her," Ace confirmed. "But… we never found her. No life signs in the likely areas."

Dawn shuddered. "Seo's never given off life signs."

Ace nodded. "That would explain a lot."

Which meant…

"Seo's still floating through space somewhere, huh?" said Dawn. "Never to be found again!"

"That's… not exactly true," said Ace, very quietly. "Not _anymore_."

Dawn stared.

"Hey," said Ace, with a shrug, "you didn't really think I'd just leave her, did you?"

* * *

><p><em>1.2 million years ago…<em>

Ace waited.

Thought maybe time would roll backwards. Undo. That she'd wind up back in the TARDIS, before they ever even arrived here. But it didn't stop. None of it stopped.

All the Powerhouse Planets were swallowed up by the black hole — except Trianxyl. It teetered on the brink, not quite falling in.

But dangerously close.

She squeezed her eyes shut, then raced back into the Stasis Chamber room. If nothing else had changed, _this_ must have. The Doctor would be back, he'd take over and defeat the Master, and everything would be all right, again!

Ace found the Doctor.

Still and unmoving, beneath the paneling that had dropped off the ceiling.

"Professor," Ace said. Trying, once again, to snap him out of it. "You're not dead. I know you're not. Just wake up." She shook him. "_Wake up_!"

"The Doctor's companions," came a smooth, silky voice. "Loyal and foolhardy to the end."

Ace jumped to her feet and spun around to face the Master. "You."

She tried to lunge at him, tackle him to the ground so she could rip him apart for what he'd done, but the Master whipped out the tissue compression eliminator, and pointed it directly at Ace.

She halted.

"You still have a bit of the feral animal inside you, it seems," the Master observed. "A pity the waves of energy from the black hole will not rid you of it — the same way they'll rid me of mine. No. You'll be burnt to a cinder. I will rule this galaxy. And no one will be able to stop me."

Ace glared at him.

"Any second now," the Master said, calmly. Waiting for it.

He kept waiting.

Longer and longer.

Then frowned, looking down at his watch. Shook it, trying to work out what had gone wrong.

"External View, on," the Master commanded of the ship around him.

A screen popped up in the center of the room. Revealing a shimmering force wall across the outside of the black hole. Containing the energy pouring out from the instability, turning it back in on itself, letting it get reconsumed by the black hole.

As the dimensional fissure began to close, and the black hole stabilized and normalized.

Trianxyl hesitated. Then was swallowed up by the black hole.

And with that last planet swallowed, the dimensional fissure closed completely.

Everything going back to normal.

"No," said the Master, staring, in horror, at the display. "No, that's impossible! I planned this perfectly. Every calculation, every variable checked and rechecked. There was no possible way…!"

"Oh, it was flawless," said the Doctor, emerging from the pile of rubble. Shoving his umbrella up over his shoulder, as he stood beside Ace. "Your work, I mean. So subtle, I never even noticed you'd altered anything at all. Problem was… the Great Warrior's work _wasn't_ flawless."

The Master's face burned with rage.

"Two transducers," the Doctor recalled. "Installed upside down. You remember, Ace? All those little mistakes — well, it seems not all of them really _were _mistakes. When the workarounds she'd installed burned out, those original 'mistakes' were set into motion." He gestured at the display. "And created this. To stop you. Very clever. Shame about Trianxyl, though — I doubt she ever intended that."

"Professor!" Ace cried out. "You're alive!"

"Alive, well, and fit as a trombone!" the Doctor replied, with a grin. "Snatched from the jaws of death, so to speak. I seem to do that a lot."

"Yes," the Master muttered. "It's a habit I'll be happy to break you of." He twisted the tissue compression eliminator in his hands.

And activated it.

The compression beam shot out at the Doctor and Ace, encompassing them.

Then faded away. As the Master realized, with some alarm… that nothing had been done to them. They were still standing there, the way they'd been before.

"What was it you said, Master?" the Doctor mused. "When the stasis beam first activates, you don't notice. You believe the world is running just the way it always has. Until the moment you learn… you haven't moved."

The Master felt his hearts stop for a second.

As he realized.

"No," said the Master. Leaping for the controls to the stasis beam. "No! You will not do this to me!"

Except he hadn't leapt.

He was exactly where he'd stood, before.

"And that's when," said the Doctor, "the traps swings shut."

The Master felt it shut.

And then… nothing.

For a long time.


	17. Chapter 17

_The Present Day…_

Steven beamed, even more brightly.

"You grew up," Jack repeated. "In the outskirts of Seo's mind. Wandering along the shores and trying desperately to get inside."

Probably instinct, Jack figured.

An instinct that Seo's mind — not knowing who this really was — kept violently trying to override.

"You spent that long growing up in the mind of someone nice and sweet like Seo," said Jack. Shook his head. "And you still have the audacity to show up here, looking exactly like…?!"

Steven's beam fell.

As he seemed to realize… he'd done something wrong.

"You've got no idea, do you?" said Jack. "You can get inside our heads — to translate languages, sense all our needs, rearrange rooms, even figure out where Seo wants to fly you. But you've got no idea about the pain you can cause by showing up as… as…!"

Steven morphed.

Turned into a replica of Alison's little brother, David.

Opened his mouth to speak, but only that same musical lilt came out, not in words, but in emotions. Telepathic ideas, all pouring forth.

Ideas of confusion and isolation and a need to be forgiven.

"You're not Alison's brother, either," said Jack. "You're Oliver. That's what Seo calls you."

The boy seemed to like the name.

Recognized it.

"Why don't you just take the form of whatever you look like in the outside world?" Jack said. "A…" He frowned. "Actually, where are you in the outside world?"

Oliver shrugged.

"Somewhere nearby, probably," Jack guessed. "Proximity to Seo must have helped you grow."

Oliver jumped up and down, in agreement.

Tried to speak, but the sounds still made no sense.

Was this was the reason she'd stayed alive for this long — because Oliver had been growing inside her head? That'd make sense. Oliver's growing up, on the outskirts of her mind, would have kept her brain from atrophying, over a million years trapped in a living death.

So that when Jack showed up, Seo would still be alive. Just waiting for him to bring her back.

"Come on," said Jack, taking little Oliver's hand. "I don't know anything about how to nurture growing TARDISes, but I'm guessing taking you to the deepest part of Seo's mind would be the best thing for everyone, right now."

Oliver skipped, delighted and beaming.

Clearly, this had been his goal for the last million years.

Real question was… when they got to the center of Seo's mind… just _how_ was Jack supposed to wake her up?

He offered Oliver his hand, once more. And Oliver took it.

As the two resumed their quest to rescue Seo.

* * *

><p><em>1.2 million years ago…<em>

"Is he really frozen?" Ace asked, sneaking around the Master.

"Yes," said the Doctor. "Well, until he figures out how to get free. Like I did." He turned around, gestured for Ace to follow him. "So we might as well drop him off on some uncharted backwater, to make it impossible for him to escape."

"And… the Great Warrior?" said Ace, trailing after the Doctor. "She's here, too. If you escaped the stasis technology, maybe she could! Maybe…!"

The Doctor shook his head.

And walked, even faster, to the bridge.

Flipping and switching, setting the flight controls for a crash-landing on some remote back-water.

"But you found a way to…!" Ace insisted.

"I'm a Time Lord," the Doctor replied. "I only just realized, the moment the trap swung shut, what was happening. And used the one connection I had to the outside world, so I could stick a foot in the trap-door, and hold it open a crack."

"The one connection…?"

The Doctor looked up. "The TARDIS, Ace," he said. "I used the TARDIS."

Ace didn't say anything.

As the Doctor got back to his fiddling. "The Great Warrior isn't a Time Lord," he continued. "The Master felt it. That means she has no symbiotic TARDIS link, to keep the trap door open. And even if she did… the technology was new when it was used on her. She'd never have known in time to step in and act."

Ace felt a horrible, hollow feeling spread through her.

Ace had spoken to the Great Warrior, before any of that had happened. She should have said _something_ about the stasis technology, or…!

But she hadn't.

Was this all Ace's fault?

"But maybe there's another way," Ace tried. "If we get her into the Stasis Chamber, maybe there's a way to reverse it! Some way…!"

She caught the Doctor's eyes with her own.

And knew… there was no hope.

"The Master threw her body into space, when this all started," he said, quietly. "She… and probably all the others, like her. I'm sorry, Ace. But… she could be anywhere across the galaxy, and we'd never find her."

No hope.

Not at all.

"I'm afraid that means," said the Doctor, finishing up his fiddling, then heading back to Ace and putting an arm around her shoulders, "that your storybook hero will be forever that. Someone you wished you could meet. But never will."

Ace was very quiet, all the way back to the TARDIS.

Even as they got inside, and the Doctor began to run around the console, flipping switches and pressing buttons, sending the ship into flight… he seemed not to be bothered by any of what had happened.

Not the deaths of the Powerhouse Worlds.

Or the fact that, thanks to the Master, the Empire's government had been completely destroyed. Which would invariably lead to all-out war in the Outer Worlds of the Irkoli galaxy. The destruction of whole planets!

Not even the death of the Great Warrior seemed to bother him.

Like it just… didn't matter to him!

"Now, where to next?" the Doctor mused. A bounce in his step and his face cheery and light. "Perhaps—"

"She knew you."

The Doctor went very quiet.

Very still.

"When the Master punched holes in time," Ace explained, "the Great Warrior came through from the past. And talked to me. That's how she knew enough to stop the Master, 200 years before he showed up." She met the Doctor's eyes, evenly. "And I found out — she's from our future, Doctor. She's a friend we haven't met yet."

"Well," said the Doctor, trying to resume his previous cheerful air, "never good to poke your nose too far into your own—"

"She came here for _you_," Ace snapped. "Did all this — just to make you proud of her!" She stepped forwards. "She cared _that much_ about you, and it killed her."

The Doctor looked up.

Suddenly lost for words.

"I told you to stop involving people in your master-plans," said Ace. She turned away, headed off to her room. "Maybe now, you'll learn. Because whoever she is, you're going to meet her. And when you do… you'll know you've already sent her to her death."

Then Ace slammed walked out of the console room.

Slamming the door behind her.

"Ace!" the Doctor called after her.

Ace didn't answer.

Not for a very, very long time.


	18. Chapter 18

_Th__e Present Day…_

"And we never found her," Ace concluded. "Eventually, the Doctor gave up, and we moved on. Off to some other planet, in some other time." As she and Dawn sped down the I-5, on Ace's motorcycle.

Dawn trying to banish tears.

"I promised I'd tell you all of this," Ace called back, past the sound of the wind and the motor. "So you'd be proud of her. And forgive her."

Dawn didn't answer.

Couldn't.

She'd hoped Ace had rescued Seo. But… there wasn't any way to rescue her. Seo was gone forever, and all Ace could do was tell Dawn and the Doctor what had really happened.

Ace glanced back. Then pulled over to the side of the road. Put an arm around Dawn. And let her sob it out.

"That's not the end of the story," said Ace.

"The only end that counts," Dawn said. She sniffled. "You and the Doctor looked for her. And didn't find her."

"I didn't find her, back then," Ace agreed. "But… after the Time War… I was looking for Time Lords. Scouring the universe, trying to work out what had happened. _That's_ when I found her."

Dawn stopped crying.

Looked up at Ace.

"I ran into her, by accident," Ace said, "about 10,000 years after the Empire fell — still floating through space. And… took her with me."

"Took her…?"

"Well, first, I tried to wake her up," Ace said. "That failed. But I told you — I'd found her while tracking Time Lords. And even if the Master was too much of a git to figure it out… there _was_ something inside her — just a spark — that could save her life."

"A spark of…?"

"So I took her to the one spot that could help," said Ace. "The First Moon of Ergola. Set her beside the ruins of a ship that had crashed into the moon long ago. And left her there for a million years."

Ace kick-started the motor of her bike back into life.

"Someday, they're gonna dig her out." Ace signaled, then zoomed back onto the highway. "Put her on display in a museum. I left a note about resurrection myths in some boring academic paper — right where the Professor would be sure to read it. That means he'll show up and find her there."

"And blame himself."

"And realize that," Ace corrected, "after a million years in stasis — Seo now has the one thing in her head that she needs to escape."

They zoomed off towards LA.

To track down Elizabeth.

"A baby TARDIS!" Ace shouted back, with a laugh.

* * *

><p>The moment they managed to break through into the deepest, most secure room in the entire castle of Seo's mind, Jack understood exactly why Seo hadn't moved for a million years.<p>

Seo stood in the center of the room.

Staring, transfixed, at a white glowing orb of energy — hovering just ahead of her.

Surrounded, on all sides, by a rippling, impenetrable transparent bubble.

The bubble and the white glowing orb seemed to emit a still sort of energy. One that swirled around and through Seo. And made her unable to move. Unable to sense anything around her. Even unable to look away.

The orb and the bubble were the Stasis Technology.

And they had kept her like this for a million years.

"Seo!" Jack called. Dropped Oliver's hand and raced forwards, banging his fists against the side of the bubble. "Seo! It's me! I'll get you out of there!"

She didn't hear him. Couldn't.

But someone else did.

A blur of motion, as someone flipped in between Jack and Oliver, began punching and kicking and spinning around, attacking Jack on all fronts. Jack blustered and fumbled, frantically trying to defend himself, but had to scuttle behind a pillar to avoid the blows.

He'd recognize that face anywhere — those determined features, steady blue eyes, blond hair tucked back in a ponytail.

"Buffy?" said Jack.

Buffy shot Jack a glare, then turned instead on the child-TARDIS.

Jack lunged out to grab Oliver up, sheltering the little boy. "Buffy, listen to me," he said. "This isn't an intruder. It's Oliver. Seo's ship."

"It's an infection," said Buffy. "A disease." She pulled a sword out of thin air. "I'm the Slayer. I slay things that try to harm Seo!"

She raced forwards, ready to slice the sword through the child's head.

And Jack knew he had no other choice but to strike a low blow.

"And you're dead!" Jack shouted.

Buffy paused.

"It's all over Seo's mind," said Jack. Feeling worse and worse about this. But knowing it was the only hope he had of stopping Seo from killing her ship. "You're dead… because of Seo."

Buffy put down the sword.

"What happened?" said Jack. "When?"

"Christmas day," said Buffy, not looking at him. "Seo… had a choice. And chose wrong. Now… I'm gone. Forever."

"That's why we can't believe in Seo, anymore," said a man in a pinstripe suit, stepping up behind Buffy. A hand on her shoulder. "She's a failure, Jack. Like I told her in Victorian London. No matter what she does, she'll always be a failure."

"This isn't a one-time thing; Seo _always_ makes the wrong choice," Buffy agreed. Glancing back at the Doctor, their eyes meeting for just a moment. "Just like she always manages to kill her family. In any universe. How can those crimes be forgiven?"

"She deserves this," the Doctor agreed.

Buffy nodded.

And Jack decided… he'd had enough. Absolutely _enough_.

"You don't believe that," said Jack. Pointing at them. "Either of you!" He turned to Buffy. "You said, yourself — being a hero means making the suckiest sacrifices. To save the multiverse — you nearly killed your own sister."

Buffy hesitated.

"And you, Doctor," said Jack, turning on him. "I met you with Rose, remember? I saw all those nightmares. I could guess why you got them."

The Doctor didn't answer.

"You do what you have to," said Jack. "And… yeah. Might mean you can't face life anymore. Might make you just want to wander around getting drunk and trying to forget. Might mean Alice will never speak to you again, and you'll have to live with Steven's face haunting you forever." He breathed, heavily. "But it isn't the end of your life. It doesn't mean you deserve something like this."

He pointed at Seo, transfixed by that energy.

Oliver tip-toed forwards, peering at the scene, curiously. He spotted Seo, and suddenly grew excited. Jumping up and pointing at her, looking at Jack as if he'd just accomplished his first life's goal.

Perhaps he had.

Buffy and the Doctor took up immediate defensive positions. Moving to stand directly between Oliver and the frozen Seo.

"She deserves this," said Buffy. "For killing me. I'm not letting anyone in."

"She should never have been born in the first place, anyways," the Doctor added. "Like I told Madam Vastra and Jenny — I'd be a lot happier if she'd never shown up in my life at all."

Jack wanted to hit his head on something.

This would be so much easier talking to the _real_ Doctor and Buffy, not these bizarre Seo-impression versions of them. Always putting Seo down and feeling like she needed to be punished for things that weren't her fault. Just because Seo had guilt-issues.

"Is anyone in here going to stop being self-deprecating?!" Jack shouted, at the top of his lungs.

"Sounds like my cue," came a voice.

Jack turned, but the figure swooped in faster than he could register, one arm draped around Buffy, one around the Doctor. The two dropping off to sleep, with a single sigh, and falling onto the ground.

"Night-night, Mom, Father," said the woman.

She was tall, with sharp gray eyes and curly blond hair, dropping around her shoulders. She stepped forwards in a walk that exposed the richness of her silk red dress.

Jack couldn't figure out who this person was supposed to be.

"Deserve this?" said the woman. She scoffed. "Hey, I don't deserve this. In fact, I deserve a hell of a lot better than this. This universe loves me — I love me. Wanna make something of it?"

"Who are you?" asked Jack.

She leaned to the side. Giving Jack a wide, manic smile. "Oh, hun. Three guesses."

Then brushed him aside.

Sweeping back to look at the part of her personality trapped in stasis.

"So. A million years buried under the ground, huh?" said the woman. Glanced back at Jack. "Beat you, Jack." Her eyes gleamed. She stepped forwards, again, and put a hand on Oliver's shoulder. Whatever she did, with that gesture… made Oliver pulse. "All right, Oliver. We're all yours."

Oliver suddenly exploded into a burst of golden energy, soaring through the air like an eagle, every flap of his wings a song and every movement a telepathic emotion.

As he surged through the bubble.

And popped it.

Seo suddenly looked up from the orb of light. Confused. "What…?" Then saw Oliver, flying towards her. Shrieked, in horror. "No, wait!"

As Oliver seared into her.

Finally achieving his goal, at long last.


	19. Chapter 19

Author's Note: And the end!

Next up! Um... have to check...

Oh, yeah! "Celebrity", a short story. Then "Perfect World", which is a longer one.

(Updating will be sporadic for the next few days, though, because my grandmother is getting the medal of freedom from Obama, so I'm off to the white house! Yippee!)

Enjoy!

* * *

><p>In the real world, Jack sat up. Struggling to catch his breath, as he took in his surroundings. And the nervous figure of Parin, loitering nearby.<p>

Then, a gasp from beside him.

As Seo came to — and nearly fell over. Her head looking this way and that, eyes wide and terrified.

"Prosemo?" she said. "Veptisha? Poili?"

Then her eyes focused on Jack.

And her face broke into the most exultant, exuberant smile he'd ever seen.

"Jack!" she cried, leaping up and tackling him into a tight hug. "I thought you'd left me."

He looked down at her, in his arms.

The Great Warrior. Speaker for the Forgotten. The girl who'd just lost her mom, and had risked everything trying to carry on Buffy's legacy. The only person in recorded history to have survived a million years in an Irkoli Empire Stasis Field — and emerge perfectly fine.

And the one person, Jack realized, who'd ever be able to look him in the eyes and forgive him for what he'd done.

If he ever could tell her.

He hugged her back. Wide grin on his face. "Hey there, kid," he said. "Welcome back to the land of the living."

Parin stared at them. His jaw hanging open.

"She… came back to life!" shouted Parin. "She… she…!"

Seo looked over at him. Confused. "Who are you?" Then at the area around herself. "And where am I? What happened to Trianxyl? To Prosemo? To my friends? And…" She put a hand up to her head. "…and what did you put inside my mind?!"

Jack sighed.

Then disentangled himself from her embrace, put his hands on her shoulders. Looked straight into her eyes. "Brace yourself," he warned. "Because… to answer all your questions at once…"

"You've been a statue for 1.2 million years!" shouted Parin.

Seo blinked.

Blinked again.

"Did he steal that from Shakespeare?" said Seo. She leaned into Jack, whispered, conspiratorially, "Because I always preferred the _Harry Potter_ Hermione to the Shakespeare Hermione."

"Funny thing," Jack began. "But you actually _were_ a…"

They were interrupted by a loud pounding on the door. Along with a lot of shouting, and the sound of weapons firing.

Jack glanced over at Parin.

"They found out," Parin said, with a grimace. "About five minutes ago. I barricaded the door and hoped it'd hold them, but… I think they brought backup."

"Let them come!" said Jack, with a laugh. "What's the worst they can do? Turn her back into a statue, again?"

Seo kept her hand up against her head.

A deep frown on her face.

"It's… like… there's singing in my head!" Seo said. "Except… not singing."

"They… they'll… I don't know!" shouted Parin at Jack. "Lock us up. We're art thieves. Vandalizers! We've taken a priceless statue, and brought it back to life."

Seo dropped her hand, irritated. "I am _not_ a statue!" she snapped. "Would you stop insisting—!"

The door burst open.

The entire room swarmed by policemen and art thief experts and museum curators. Some leveling weapons at the trio, all very stern and meaning business.

"Sirs, step away from the…!" shouted one of the policemen.

The Senior Curator gasped. "The Statue!" he cried, pointing at Seo. "It's moving!"

Seo buried her face in her hands, and gave a long, weary sigh. "This is going to wind up being a very long and confusing day, isn't it?" she guessed.

* * *

><p>It was a while before either Jack or Seo could leave the museum.<p>

A while which consisted of Seo finally getting used to having a TARDIS in her head, discovering the piece of overgrown coral that now constituted her ship — currently on display with her, in the museum. Then of Seo reconstructing said ship so that it actually moved through time and space, again…

And giving the museum curators as many historical bits and bobs about the Irkoli Empire as she could, so they'd decide she wasn't actually a statue, and let her go.

"No, the Irkoli Empire _never_ threw planets into black holes," Seo insisted, trying to construct another circuit for her new and improved ship. "That bit was made up after the Empire fell. Probably when the rest of the galaxy saw what the Master had done — they thought it was the Irkoli Empire behind it, went up in arms, and the whole thing fell apart."

She looked at the circuit in her hand, and nodded at it in approval.

"So… Grynxol," said the Senior Curator.

"Trianxyl," Seo corrected, handing the circuit over to Jack.

"…wasn't destroyed in punishment for your defiance?" said the Senior Curator. "It was only destroyed later?"

"Yes."

"But if the Empire didn't destroy planets," said the Curator, "then why are there so few planets in the Irkoli Galaxy, today? Where did they all go?"

Seo stared into the distance. A sad expression on her face. "They call it mutually assured destruction for a reason," she said. "If the Empire fell… if there was a war…"

Everyone went quiet.

Thinking about the famous nebulas and meteor clusters tourists gawped at, now. And knowing… what they'd once been.

"I suppose that explains why you didn't want to topple the Empire," said the Curator.

Seo sighed. "I keep telling you, the Irkoli Empire wasn't evil! Misguided and mismanaged, yes. Handling equipment they couldn't quite figure out how to build, yes. But they never actually destroyed any…!"

Jack snickered.

And Seo turned on him. Raising an eyebrow. "What?"

"This circuit," said Jack, raising up the circuit she'd just given him. "You built it broken."

"I did not!" Seo snatched it away from him. Examined it, carefully. "Nope. I remember from when you and Martha were working on the TARDIS, after the Year that Never Was. This was _exactly_ how the one in the TARDIS looked."

Jack snickered, again.

"What?" Seo insisted. Putting her hands on her hips. "What's so funny?"

"You copied the TARDIS's chameleon circuit?" Jack grinned, then turned to head back into the ship and install it. "Can't wait to see how you react when your ship won't stop turning into a 1960's Police Box."

Seo paused.

Then chased after Jack. "No, wait! Give it back! I'll fix it!"

* * *

><p>"And here we have the Grynxol Wing of the museum," said the Senior Curator, giving his tour group a guided tour. "Filled with first-hand information from an eye-witness, detailing exactly what the Irkoli Empire was, how it operated, how it was born and how it died."<p>

Seo and Jack looked back from where Seo was putting the last few finishing touches on her ship.

She waved at the tour group.

They all waved back, confused. Whispering amongst themselves.

"Isn't… that the million year old statue?" said one of the tour group. "The Third Wonder of the Galaxy?"

"Yes, well… the statue woke up," the Senior Curator replied, with a cough. "Very… interesting. Anyways!"

Seo and Jack watch the tour group move off.

Seo turning back to Jack.

"I think I've just ruined history for a lot of people," she remarked. "Or at least… a lot of archaeologists."

"Yep," said Jack. "But — on the plus side — you _did_ get a ship out of it."

Seo's eyes lit up. "Hey! You're right!" She leaned in. Then whispered, "If anyone asks… I did this on purpose to get a time machine. I definitely did _not_ wind up accidentally making a mistake that lured in two Time Lords, destroyed countless planets, and destroyed the Irkoli Empire, thus plunging the entire galaxy into a devastating war."

"My lips are sealed," said Jack.

Seo stepped back. Towards the ship she was still trying to convince to take a shape other than lump-of-coral-with-windows-embedded-in-it. Convincing… somewhat unsuccessfully.

"So let's go!" said Seo, opening the door. "The first TARDIS grown after the fall of Gallifrey! Time to see if it works."

Jack's smile fell.

And he turned away. "Have fun."

Seo looked at him. Confused.

"Hey, look at you!" said Jack, glancing over his shoulder. "A million years old. Your own ship. A bunch of religions inspired by you. And a permanent legacy as one of the most legendary heroes of this galaxy." He shrugged. Head dropping, as he turned away, again. "You don't need someone like me hanging around, ruining your life."

"You're running away from me?" Seo cried. "Again?!"

Jack's head snapped up. "What? No! It's just… I ruin lives, Seo. That's what I do."

Seo's eyes turned hard and angry. "You sound like my father, now."

Worst thing was… she was right.

Damn.

"And anyways, I've got places to go," Jack amended. "Things to do. You know. Like—"

His words turned into a squeak, as Seo grabbed him up by the shirt and dragged him inside her ship. Then shut the door behind them.

"1.2 million years," said Seo, plopping him down, "and I can still boss people around." She raced towards the blob of coral that was trying to resemble a central console. "All right, Oliver. Let's go somewhere exciting!"

She yanked down a lever.

For a few seconds nothing happened.

Then Oliver let out an annoyed whine, and reluctantly, the machine whirred into life. Like an irritated child, dragging his feet as he was forced to go somewhere he didn't want.

"And off we go!" Seo cried.

"Off we go," Jack repeated. "Yeah. Let's see what tomorrow brings."


End file.
